Ch. 17: A busy man

Albus Dumbledore was a busy man. Between managing the school and, secretively and not so successfully, the Ministry there was little time for worrying. The second rise of Voldemort, which reinstated the Order, meant that he had another organisation to manage, with all the problems that ensued.

As if to make things worse, the Ministry was slipping through his fingers, not believing him that He Who Must Not Be Named was back. Trying to keep his influences required more cunning and work than usual and it was eating away on Dumbledore's time. They also refused to put additional protection in the Department of Mysteries, saying that there was no reason to do so. That meant, of course, that Dumbledore had to stretch the Order even thinner, to ensure that there was somebody at the door every night.

Already stretched thin, between patrolling the castle, trying to get a hold of information and surveying the islanders, the Order was at the point of breaking, like a threat stretched too viciously. If only Dumbledore could remove at least one of the problems, maybe they could manage to go on with some semblance of organisation.

For example, if he could get rid of those potentially dangerous and irritatingly robust islanders, there would be one, big problem less. He had verified their story, or rather as far as verification went when the person who recommended them was the one assuring Dumbledore that Raven and Hatter were Pandora agents charged with the removal of Voldemort. For all Dumbledore knew, they could have made up that cover story before leaving, because they certainly hadn't been in touch. Dumbledore made sure that the floo network was cut from their fireplace.

However, the promise of permanently removing Voldemort was too tempting to simply send away the islanders, especially with the inkling feeling that Tom Riddle might have taken more precautions than originally expected. The diary that pulled the unfortunate Miss Weasley into a horrible mess on her first year was disturbing him more and more often. How did Tom manage to seal a part of his soul away in it?

Could Raven do really get rid of Voldemort permanently?

Despite all those problems, when Severus Snape came with worrying news, Dumbledore found his priorities shifting. The fact that Voldemort seemed to be under the impression that Harry would soon go to the Department of Mysteries to retrieve the prophecy was more than worrying. Additionally, Minerva McGonagall reported repeatedly that Harry kept in close contacts with the islander children, despite the scary run-in with their bodyguards.

Could Harry be plotting something? The very thought sent a chill down Dumbledore's spine and, despite his best judgement, he summoned the boy to his office again. Waiting for his precious student to arrive, he made sure that all the worrying things are hidden away and that his office gave no hints of his current research about Voldemort's soul. After all, if the Dark Lord was expecting Harry to come for the prophecy, there was a chance that he could read Harry's mind.

As the knock on his door echoed in the office, Dumbledore called up his serene smile onto his face and told Harry to get in, greeting him like he always did.

'Good evening, professor,' Harry said politely, sounding somewhat nervous. Was Dumbledore right that he was plotting? It seemed so.

'Please take a seat, Harry,' he said, betraying neither his thoughts nor his worries. 'Would you like a lemon drop?' he asked, somewhat displeased that the candy now only reminded him about that mad Hatter. Harry declined politely, as usual.

'Is there something wrong, professor?' he asked and Dumbledore looked at him carefully, trying to read his expression. With some surprise he found out that he couldn't and it worried him immensely because it meant that Harry was changing and he didn't keep up with the change. He should definitely pay more attention to such a precious tool. Student, such a precious student, he corrected himself angrily.

'Nothing at all, my dear boy,' he assured Harry. 'I was just wondering if there was anything you would like to tell me,' he added.

'No, professor,' Harry replied, not too fast but not too slow either, as though he was expecting the question or really had nothing to hide. Dumbledore doubted that it was the latter. He smiled, despite his worries.

'I have heard that you still are friends with those exchange students,' he said, carefully not betraying his thoughts on the topic. Harry twitched.

'You did say that you were curious about them, professor,' he said slowly. 'I'm trying to get information about them, to answer your question about the wands,' he added. After a moment of thought, Dumbledore nodded, admitting that he was curious about it before.

'Now, however, I have come to believe that they might be too dangerous to hang out with,' he added, watching how an angry emotion crossed Harry's expression. Did he use the wrong words? What stories did those children feed him?

'Because of that thing with Raven and Hatter?' Harry asked and he nodded in reply. 'Oz told me that Raven would have never shot me,' he announced. Sadly, it seemed to be in agreement with Raven's feelings, as far as Dumbledore could say, so there was not much to say about that except:

'Oz told you. And you believe everything that Oz says?' he asked and the same angry expression crossed Harry's face. Something was not right there, Dumbledore thought, biting his tongue before he could continue with his plan of discrediting Oz.

'Not everything, I'm not that stupid,' Harry said coldly. 'Of course they have secrets, just like we also have secrets and that's why professor McGonagall didn't really teach them anything yet and professor Flitwick only teaches them funny, useless spells.'

'What-'

'It's amazing that they're not excluded from Defence against the Dark Arts, considering that professor Kruspe actually does teach us how to duel,' Harry continued, reminding Dumbledore about another of his small issues. He had yet to figure out what Kruspe's aim, behind approaching the islanders like he did, was. 'Not to mention how "we" are treating them, not even letting them go home for Christmas,' he finished with a glare.

Dumbledore bit his tongue before he could say "they requested to stay for Christmas", which was a lie and could easily be disproved. He was impressed at how masterfully Harry had been manipulated into taking the side of the islanders. Could it be that he was simply protective over the ones mistreated? Or could he see his reflection in the green eyes of that damned Vessalius boy that made Dumbledore's skin crawl. There was something off about that child, but he couldn't quite put a finger on it.

Knowing that Harry was waiting for an answer, Dumbledore sighed, stalling.

'I know this is not a nice situation, Harry,' he said finally. 'Sometimes politics call for ugly solutions and we cannot allow them complete freedom and access to our knowledge until we know what their true aims are.'

'To destroy Voldemort, didn't they say that?' Harry asked, frowning when Dumbledore smiled at him patronisingly.

'Sending two people to remove such a notorious wizard?' he asked. 'Do you really believe that Harry? I'm disappointed, I thought that you would know better than to trust the words given to you by people who can't even explain their own magic.'

'Professor Lunettes,' Harry started, but Dumbledore didn't let him finish.

'Is teaching you philosophical babble,' he said and the student stared, surprised by the harsh words. 'Most of the school year is over and what did you get? Another dimension from which magic comes?' he almost laughed derisively, in the last moment remembering himself. 'There is a theory like that indeed, but there is no proof that it might be even probable. It is much more likely that the universe is immersed in a magical field that interacts with those who have the capacity to feel it.'

'Oh,' was all Harry said.

'I'm sorry, Harry, for getting a bit worked up,' Dumbledore said after a moment of silence, smiling at the student again. 'I would like you to be very careful with what you tell to Oz and his friends because I have a feeling that they might use it against you,' he added, raising his hand when Harry opened his mouth. 'I have no proof for those words, just a feeling in my heart that tells me we haven't yet seen everything from them.'

'I'll be careful,' Harry whispered, looking down. Dumbledore smiled wider: a grain of doubt has been sowed and now he only needed to wait for it to grow and bloom. He was sure that the exchange students would sooner or later slip and do something Harry would find suspicious.

'Excellent, now tell me, Harry, how are the Occlumency lessons going?' he asked, remembering that he needed to make sure that Voldemort could not read Harry's mind. When Harry didn't look up at him immediately, he was overcome with a foreboding feeling.

'Professor Snape is being very difficult about them,' the boy mumbled finally and Dumbledore made a mental note to scold the man: yet another thing to do that day. 'He thinks that I'm helpless anyway, so I don't see why I should bother.'

'You should "bother", Harry, because it is infinitely important that Voldemort cannot enter your head and get, for example, the details about the Order, so that he can finish off the members one by one,' he said, choosing the threat he considered the most efficient. It seemed to work, because Harry looked at him with panic. 'Please do your best to learn Occlumency,' he added and Harry nodded.

He finished the discussion soon afterwards, to busy himself with the other issue he wanted to solve that day: the reports from an impromptu encounter with a Deatheater and a "thing", for the lack of better description. Mad-Eye has been out with the islanders, trying to follow a person the Order suspected of aiding Voldemort, when something attacked them. Mad-Eye has been kind enough to provide Dumbledore with his memory from the encounter and the headmaster was planning to watch it again and consider the implications of what he could see.

The memory started from the appearance of a creature, unlike anything else Dumbledore had ever seen. It was a worm-like creature, bigger than a house and equipped with multiple eyes and, weirdly enough, a hand. However, it wasn't its appearance that drew Dumbledore's attention but the short glance that Hatter and Raven shared before springing into action, ignoring Mad-Eye's warning. They barely even looked surprised at the thing.

They also seemed to know what they were doing, Raven emptying his gun into the creature, while Hatter ran towards the masked person that Mad-Eye only noticed when his head rolled on the ground, losing the mask. As the creature wailed and sank into the asphalt, together with the decapitated man, Raven reloaded his gun and Hatter calmly walked back to him, sheathing his sword. They ignored Mad-Eye's questions, when the Auror finally regained his speaking capacity, and the memory finished.

Remembering Harry's description of the creature that he had seen Raven and Hatter fight in his dream, Dumbledore wondered what it was that Voldemort had discovered. It was clear that this was some sort of a new weapon and Dumbledore was worried, because he had never heard of anything similar. Yet, the two islanders seemed to know, he thought. Could they have known about those creatures before they have arrived here? Could they have anything to do with the appearance of those creatures?

What if Voldemort stole some secrets from the islanders? Dumbledore wouldn't put it past the greedy lord. In that case, wouldn't it seem logical that Raven and Hatter have not been sent to dispose of Voldemort but to clean up the mess and conduct damage control? Yet, they have offered to remove Voldemort as though it had been a part of their plan from the very beginning.

Of course, if Voldemort stole their secrets, it only seemed logical to remove him permanently, but what secrets could he have stolen? Could those creatures be the way islanders used their raw magic? Was animating some sort of imaginary creature really worth the effort? If that was the case then sending two men who didn't command such magic against those who did sounded reckless. Or did Raven and Hatter command some sort of horrifying creatures and were just waiting to unleash them in the appropriate moment?

There were too many things he didn't know, too many variables, he decided, gritting his teeth. For the first time in his life, he considered sending somebody on a suicide mission, to remove some of the danger. Then again, he didn't really have a suicide mission handy and Raven and Hatter did know what to do with those creatures. Until he got the truth out of them, he couldn't dispose of them.

He shivered at his own cruelty, quietly hoping that he will manage to retain his humanity throughout this conflict.