Digital

Chapter 16

Sirius Dilemmas

Chapter edited on: 9/3/11

Thank you to everybody who reviewed the last chapter.

Warning: excessive swearing in this chapter!

Previously in Digital:

"Behold, one of the advantages of card evolution, while it is only temporarily if you haven't already naturally gained the level, it does however recharge you to full health when it's used. An instant full heal with an added bonus if you wish to call it that," said EGO with a satisfied smile. His voice was now even deeper than before.

Harry nodded. 'I could get used to this,' he thought happily.

Hermione simply gazed at Harry, eyes wide. She had of course seen him in his full champion form beauty once before but it never grew old and this was the first time she actually saw him change into it.

"Wow," she said savoring the moment.

Then looking down at her digivice she started to grin. After a second she nodded.

Looking up she eagerly asked: "Guys, can we make a few more?"

And now the continuation:

#Dumbledores Office, Hogwarts, Two days later

"Ah! Welcome, come on in! Take a seat! Thank you for taking the time to come," said Albus Dumbledore joyfully as he welcomed a member of the order of the phoenix into his office.

"Yes, well! You didn't really give me a chance to say no now, did you? Your message was exceptionally clear in its orders, right down to the little hidden treat of incarceration if I didn't come," said Sirius Black, Harry's godfather, darkly as he entered the office.

"Yes, well... Lemon drop?" Dumbledore asked, his eyes twinkling merrily while holding out his candy bowl.

"No thanks old man! Just get on with what you have to say," Sirius growled, eying the candy with the utmost disgust. He had long known for many years that the sweets the old man gave to everybody were in fact traced with a mild truth potion, a strong calming potion and a third potion which made you trust the old man. Not that anybody would ever believe him if he told anybody.

"Right down to business, eh? Very well, I can do that," said Dumbledore, his expression changing from his grandfatherly appearance to that of stern man with a heart as hard as steel.

"I have called you here today because I want you to tell me the answer to a very simple question which has been annoying me for a while now: Where is Harry?" he asked.

"I have no idea and I wouldn't tell you if I did," said Sirius coldly, making no effort to be any more forthcoming than he had to be.

Dumbledore nodded his head. It was what he had expected anyway. Ever since his most recent actions concerning Harry Potter, Sirius had been quite uncooperative with him to say the least. Unperturbed he carried on: "A few days ago a 'little bird' told me a little piece of interesting information. I was told that Harry is your sole heir. Is that true?" he asked already knowing the answer.

Sirius frowned. Giving the old man a glare which fully showed him his full contempt.

He answered: "I don't see why that should be any of your business, but since you clearly already know... yes he is. Why?"

Smiling Dumbledore nodded, "It's important, because I have recently developed a new potion which I had hoped to use on Harry, for his own good of course. With it I would have been able to find him, no matter where he would have been, whether under the protection of wards, for example the… fidilius…" - he raised his eyebrows at the word fidilius, clearly showing that he thought Sirius may have hidden Harry away under one- "…or anything else for that matter. I had already planned to make it once he came back for the new year, however, there is a small problem. You see, somehow I doubt he will be back next term which brings me to the reason why we are here today. You see, the potion needs a certain key element for it to work; either his blood, or the blood of a close family member...willingly given. The closer the better," Albus said smiling sweetly.

Sirius growled even louder, his eyes forming into two angry slits as he heard this but didn't do more. It would have been useless anyway.

"And why are you telling 'me' this?" Sirius asked angrily. "It's not like I would give you my blood, not willingly at least… besides I'm not his true family, so my blood wouldn't work anyway", he added. The gal of the man. He just knew that he wasn't going to like where the conversation was leading. He was sure of it.

"As I was saying…at first I had planned to take Harry's blood when he came back next term, but as he is no longer with us and because I'm fairly sure he has no plans of returning, we are facing a certain unfortunate dilemma. Quite unfortunate really, but… as I always say, where there is a will... there is a way."

"Since his parents are dead, we can't use their blood either so that leaves us with only one other option to get his blood, without finding him first that is… his 'ministry vile'."

Siriuse's eyes widened as he began to realize what Dumbledore was planning. "NO!" you can't be serious," he said utterly outraged by what he was sure the old man was planning.

"Oh, but I am deadly serious, Sirius, 'deadly' serious my boy," said Albus sweetly, his eyes twinkling madly as he stressed the word 'deadly'. "As you know, since he has no parents and is living with his beloved relatives, I made myself Harry's magical guardian. As such, I have limited access to his vaults. However, even with this access, I can only retrieve a limited amount of money each year and I have no right to retrieve any items. You however... can. The moment Harry's parents agreed to allow you to make him your heir, he in turn became – while not in blood - a limited member of the black family. As the current black family head, even if not officially and the fact that you are his godfather you therefore have limited control over his well being in the case of his parents death and therefore also limited access to his vaults, in certain circumstances of course. Quite fortunate really if I may say so myself," said Albus smiling.

Sirius was outraged. "I don't care, I won't do it! I will not betray him like some common rat," Sirius said loudly, his face was turning red with anger.

Albus's smile disappeared. "I don't think you fully understand the situation your currently in, so let me make myself clear here. Either you go down to his vault and retrieve the spare vial of his blood for me -blood which every witch or wizard, by law, has to keep down there for medical emergency reasons - or I'll personally see to it that you will never see the light of day again. I hear the Dementors are quite hungry at this time of year. Don't make me reacquaint you with them and make them give you a... 'loving' kiss. Is that clear?" he asked dangerously.

For a moment Sirius could do nothing else but glare at Dumbledore, but then, releasing a snarl, he nodded his head. At that moment there was no word which could justify the great hate he felt towards the manipulative old man.

"Good! Now! You have one day exactly to retrieve the vial before I send the Dementors after you. That should give you enough time to fill out the necessary Gringotts paperwork needed to gain temporary access to his vault for a family matter. Luckily the Goblins don't care if your an escaped felon or not, so it shouldn't be a problem. Now, off you go!" he said dismissing his x-student with a wave of his hand as if he were swatting away a particularly annoying fly.

Without giving Dumbledore another glance, Sirius stepped up to the fire. A quick handful of floo powder later and he was gone.

Seeing that he was gone, Dumbledore let himself slump back into his seat and let out a loud sigh. He really hated what he was doing but it had to be done.

"All for the greater good. It's necessary," he reminded himself, repeating his mantra over and over again until he fully believed it. "It's all for the greater good, we need Harry here and under my control at all costs... the world needs him, only I can lead him... no matter the cost, it's the only way," he added.

"It's all for the greater good!"

With those last few thoughts, never knowing the large mistake he had just made, he went back to work.

#Grimmauld Place, Order of the Phoenix Headquarters.

Remus Lupin residential werewolf of the Order of the Phoenix and best friend to Sirius Black was quietly sitting in the kitchen of number 12 Grimmauld place: Headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix and the Black family residence, when the fireplace suddenly turned green and a very upset and very serious looking Sirius stepped out of it. One look at Sirius's face told him that something was bothering his friend greatly.

"Are you alright?" he asked worried.

Sirius took one withering glare at Remus, growled out "Don't ask!" before he grabbed a nearby lamp, threw it against a nearby wall, then stormed past him and up the stairs to go to his room, slamming the door on the way in.

Shocked, Remus stared mouth open at where Sirius had been. Wearily, deciding to follow his lifelong friend, he got up to follow him up the stairs. Something was not right and he was going to find out what it was. Walking up the stairs he slowly opened the door to his room only to stop, cringe and stare. The curse words and threats which were coming out of Sirius's mouth from 'the depths of his room were so bad that they would have made even the vilest person blush. Taken aback he hastily walking in and, closing the door behind him before the whole house could come to check what was wrong, Remus sat down on Sirius's bed.

For the next few minutes he simply watched and listened in amazement as Sirius meticulously grabbed some items from different places around the room and threw them into a large traveling bag while uttering curse words the whole time.

"Would you like to talk about it?" he asked hopefully.

Sirius ignored him and continued to pack the bag.

"Will you at least tell me where your going?"

Once again Sirius simply ignored him.

"It's something to do with what Dumbledore said, isn't it?" Remus asked quietly.

That got a reaction.

Suddenly Sirius stopped packing and started to get red with anger. Turning to face Remus he started to roar:

"That Bloody! Spasticated! Vile! Manipulative! F..."

The next few minutes were filled with some of the vilest words known to mankind. When Sirius finally stopped several minutes later, after telling Remus about everything that had happened during his meeting with the old manipulating coot as Sirius had called him, but not before adding a few more swear words to his name first, Remus was staring at him horrified, open mouthed and in pure shock. He didn't know what to say anymore.

It took a while but finally he managed to respond:

"Feeling better now?" he asked quietly.

Sirius sighed wearily, then nodded.

"So, what are we going to do now?" he asked wondering what his friend would do next. There wasn't really much he, or they could do, was there, he reminded himself quietly. After all Dumbledore held all the power...all the cards. All he had to do if Sirius didn't cooperative was to hand him over to the ministry authorities and to sign his execution order. The ministry would then do the rest. There would be nothing he, or Sirius could do about it. Sirius was after all an escaped felon of Askaban prison. Nobody cared, or at least the ministry didn't. That he was actually innocent and that he had never even had a single trial didn't matter to them. It really irked him that Sirius had to rely on Dumbledore's good will to stay alive.

"I don't now about you, but I'm leaving this bloody forsaken country! I will NEVER EVER do anything that vile man says EVER again. From his moment onwards he is 'Persona non grata,' not to be helped, trusted or indeed if possible spoken to by another black ever again. Also, as from this moment I Sirius Tiberius Black, head of the most ancient and noble house of black, herewith declare Grimmauld place off limits to everybody, excluding Remus David Lupin, Hermione Jane Granger and Harry James Potter, until further notice, so mote it be!"

As soon as Sirius finished saying those last few words several loud screams could be heard coming from different areas of the house as its occupants were forcefully ejected out onto the street, by the houses magic.

"Oh and before I forget it, due to his recent actions; I Sirius Tiberius Black, head of the most ancient and most noble house of black herewith issue a black blood feud against the house of Dumbledore, so mote it be!" With those last few words Sirius went back to his packing.

Remus was struck speechless, utterly shocked to the bone. In his sudden madness Sirius did the unimaginable; challenge the current most powerful wizard in the world to a blood feud.

Issuing a blood feud against another house was the worst thing a head of a family could do to another family. The ultimate insult possible. Only the head of the house of a family could issue it, but once issued every family member of the house would from now on, for forever more, until either one of the two families was completely annihilated, be at war with the other family. Literally at war without the niceties that usually came with it. No prisoners! No survivors! No turning back! All in! Rien ne va plus! Good bye, see you in the depths of hell! No Diplomacy, No second chances! Zippo, zilch... never more!... NOTHING!

Serious as it was a blood feud could only be stopped by the same person who issued it, or by the head of the accused family (usually when surrendering to end the bloodshed of unnecessary lives). If either head were to stop then the 'defeated' head would automatically be executed and the 'defeated' family's wealth, family members included, would be given as payment to the other house for their troubles, so a blood feud was never issued unless you were absolutely one hundred and fifty percent sure about it.

A blood feud against another family was a very old nearly forgotten pureblood tradition only the oldest of families would even know about, which, when issued correctly was automatically listed in a big black book which could be found, under heavy guard, in the ministries unspeakable records section under old pureblood family customs. To issue a blood feud one only had to have been universally and indisputably wronged by the accused, usually for severe issues like murder or rape as both were unforgivable crimes in wizarding society. When issued both families would have a period of grace of two days, not more, not less, during which time period both families would then be alerted about the feud. (by ministry officials or by the feud issuer himself) No action of any kind could be taken against the other family during that time by either side. After the period of grace was over however both families would be allowed to attack each others at will and all non participating family aurors would from that moment onwards be obliged to look the other way when members of both families were to meet each others, even in crowded streets. Non family members could only intervene when either; innocents were hurt in the process, or if one of the members had otherwise done something wrong in the eyes of the law, outside of the feud itself. No family member could be prosecuted for murdering a member of the other family or for damaging property of said family.

Brutal, drastic, not to mention seriously outdated, a relic of a darker age, the blood feud law was never annulled and was rarely used anymore and then only as a last resort deal when the courts themselves were either unable, or unwilling, to deal with the problem themselves. Needless to say it was severely scorned upon.

"Was that really necessary?" Remus asked, aghast and shaking as the full meaning of Sirius's actions became clear to him.

"Truthfully? Not really! It is probably the stupidest thing I have never done, and that's saying something," Sirius admitted somewhat sheepishly before changing back to a more serious tone: "But that foul loathsome man threatened me with a Dementors kiss, a fate worse than death, in my opinion, if I didn't betray Harry, Harry, who I remind you, is not only, both; a member of my house and my God child, but he is also my only heir. The heir of both; Potter and Black. Wars have been started for less, far less. I swore to protect him at all costs when I became his Godfather and I intend to do it. Nobody, least of all Dumbledork is going to stop me from doing that. If he had only threatened me I probably wouldn't have done what I did just now, but it isn't only me, is it? Therefore I'd say it is VERY necessary!" Sirius spat out angrily barely able to contain himself in his anger.

Turning away Sirius quickly finished with his packing then shrunk the bag and placed it into his pocket before turning to face his childhood friend.

Looking at each others for a minute it didn't take long before both started to hug each others before breaking down into tears.

"I'm going to miss you so much!" said Remus through a sob, as he wiped a few tears from his face. He had accepted what was happening. He knew that there was no other way and definitely no way back at this point.

"I'm going to miss you too," said Sirius sadly, hating what he was doing, but knowing that he had no choice. It had to be done. For the greater good indeed!

A quick nod, another hug and a few more tears later, both walked up to the attic where Sirius bowed to Buckbeak a hippogryff and an old friend of his, before mounting him.

"Now, according to feud laws I have a two days grace before magic itself will even allow Dumbledore to come after me. I am going to make good use of those two day to get away as far as possible, preferably out of the country, before he can react. Take care of yourself. I'm not sure when, or rather if I will ever be back or see you again. I'll be off to look for Harry and then hopefully a better life. As a half black himself he needs to know about Dumbo's betrayal and the blood feud. It concerns him just as much as it concerns me. I'll tell the goblins to leave behind a few million for you once I reach France or the next time I see the inside of another Gringgots, whichever comes first. Take it, it's yours old friend. No! I insist. Buy yourself some clothes which actually fit you for a change and for heavens sake get yourself some wolfsbane, Merlin knows how much you need it. Until...whenever."

With those last few words Sirius, now on Buckbeaks back, flew out of a window. Minutes later they were only a speck in the evening sky, then they were gone.

#Digital World, Somewhere on the Desert plain, several days later

'Well done Harry,' said EGO mentally as he watched Harry take another punch at his newest opponent, an Elecmon, a Rookie type data digimon which had red and purple reptilian skin and nine tail feathers.

Harry was currently in his Rookie form and having the time of his life...training under EGO's tutelage. Nearby, Hermione was busy studying the battle with interest from the side line, waiting feverishly for the right time to use one of her newest blue cards, cards which could all be firmly slashed through her digvice at a seconds notice should Harry need them.

During the past few days she had made quite a few cards of several different types, ranging from purely defensive to extreme aggressive, of all card levels and was now itching to use them. Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on how you looked at it, and who you were, it didn't look like she would need to use a card any time soon. Harry was clearly dominating the battle.

"Careful, he is about to use a special attack, Notice his tails are lighting up, that's his special body attack technique," EGO warned suddenly.

"Body Attack"

Seeing Elecmon's nine tails glow briefly Harry managed to dodge out of the way in time before Elecmons nine tails could hit him. Quickly, before the other digimon could react, he gave Elecmon another quick punch and a swift kick, before moving away again right before Elecmon could counter attack.

'Good! Your learning,' said EGO happily, as Elecmon missed again. The Digimon was growing more and more frustrated with each miss.

'Your faster now and your co-ordination has improved tenfold, well done,' EGO praised. 'Now how about we use a special attack of our own to finish it off,' he suggested.

For a second it seemed as if Harry was about to agree but then he shook his head. 'Not yet, I want to try something out first,' he said back mentally.

'Oh? And what would that be...Ah! I see...very well, why not. I guess it's only fair to let 'her' have some fun too. Besides she should have been helping you anyway,' EGO added mentally, glancing over at Hermione with a mental smile as he realized what Harry was planning.

Turning away from Elecmon, though not fully as to remove his eyes from the digimon, Harry briefly turned to face Hermione. "Hermione dear, could you please be so kind as to give me a boost please...you know something nice from that useful pile of yours?" he called out pleasantly.

"Why? Are you in trouble? You seem to be handling him quite well," Hermione asked confused and alarmed at the request. Since the start of the battle Harry had been clearly dominating the battle and should have had no problems defeating the digimon. 'Why would he need a power up?' 'Did I miss something?' she asked herself sightly worried that she might have.

"Oh no, no trouble at all. Just thought you'd like to try out a card. It's been a while since you last used one. Besides, just like you, I love what they do," said Harry, easily dodging another attack.

"Oh, OK! Would a speed boost do?" Hermione asked shrugging but clearly eager to try out a card, already choosing an expendable, non vital, card from her available stockpile. The boost speed booster card, adept level, wasn't too difficult to make and didn't cost much of Harry's available energy either in the process. While normally made for a Champion type digimon, instead of a rookie digimon, which he currently was, it could also be used on said rookies and would therefore be just right to waste.

"Yes that one will do just fine, thanks!" said Harry with a grin before turning his full attention back to the one sided fight, just in time to block an attack which he couldn't dodge in time.

"Here it comes, brace for...ridiculous acceleration," said Hermione smirking slightly as she said those words, slashing the boost card through her digivice.

DIGIMODIFY! SPEED BOOST ACTIVATE!

The direct moment the card was slashed through the digivice, Harry gained an almost ludicrous increase in speed for the current battle. Suddenly Harry found that he could move four times faster than before.

As easy as the battle had been for Harry moments before, at that moment it became just what Hermione had called it… ridiculous.

"It's clobbering time!" Harry said, a sadistic gleam in his eyes, scaring the daylights out of the elecmon, then, almost too fast to even see, he rushed at the clearly outclassed digimon. Elecmon hardly had enough time to realize what was happening before Harry was already walking all over him. Eyes wide in panic, Elecmon frantically tried to escape, but it was too late.

Numerous blindingly fast punches and kicks later, far too many to count, Elecmon was on the ground, breathing heavily, in massive pain and flickering from extreme energy depletion, clearly at the end of its existence.

"Now, I'll finish it off," said Harry.

"Kitsuni Flash."

Suddenly Harry's arms began to glow white as his claws transformed into two large, red hot flaming blades, then, in the blink of an eye he disappeared in a flash of fire, only to re-appear a second later right beside the defeated digimon. Not hesitating for even a second Harry, in a clear moment of overkill, coldly spearing a blade into Elecmon and briefly watched as it screamed in pain before exploding into millions of little pieces of data. Standing still Harry let himself absorb Elecmons data. Only then when the last bit of data was safely absorbed did he allow himself to relax.

Throughout all of this, Hermione never even bat a single eyelid. While watching Harry absorb the spoils of his victory she allowed herself a moment to think back over all that had happened during the last few weeks. Her former friends in the wizarding world would have been horrified at what she had become.

When she had first arrived in the Digtial world, Hermione had been easily horrified at the brutality most of the Digmon had used when fighting. For a while at first - as a means to convince herself to do what she had to do to survive without having to feel bad about it later on - there had been a time when she had chosen to view digimon as nothing more than digital data and not as the beings with feelings and dreams they really were. That was before she was set straight and told the truth by EGO for thinking so.

After that, now knowing the truth, there was a while when she had refused to hurt another digimon unless it was purely in self defense. Something which nearly got her killed if Harry hadn't rescued her at the last second. A clever digimon, seeing her actions for what they were, had used her weakness to trick her into believing that it didn't want to harm her, hoping it could lead her into a false sense of security. She had foolishly believed it which had led to her nearly being killed. That was the only time EGO had actually ordered Harry to punish her as she hadn't listened to them at the time. She had done it after they had warned her about it…twice. Her ass had really hurt that day.

It had taken her quite a few battles to get over it but she had finally learned to listen when given advice, to consider her options carefully and to accept the situation for what it was: a no limits, all or nothing, gloves off, delete or be deleted existence where everybody would use any and every means simply to survive.

That is not to say that there had not been a few other problems but she always managed to master each problem every time and all that without losing her conscience and humanity. She simply learned when to ignore her feelings and when not to and always found a way to solve each problem as they occurred.

That was then. Now, while she did indeed now know the truth, she hardly even blinked anymore whenever Harry fought and 'deleted' other digimon, easily ignoring them as they screamed. Now she simply hoped that he would never be the weaker of the two. When in Rome do as the Romans do, she told herself. When in the Digital world, expect to fight and win, or, if necessary, to run for your precious data at a seconds notice.

Weakness was punishable with deletion. Disobedience was punished with a red ass and only the strong survived. Harsh but true…and unfortunately usually…fair.

Digimon truly were creations of war, ever since they were created their only purpose was to defeat the other and to become stronger, this also carried on during and after the 'great evacuation'. Those who couldn't or wouldn't accept that for whatever reason simply didn't live long enough to change their views. Nobody said she had to like it, just to accept it. And that was just what she did.

Hermione waited just long enough for Harry to absorb the last few bits of the data before she stepped up beside him.

"Well that seemed easy enough, your clearly doing very well. Isn't it time we advanced ourselves to the next level, champion battles perhaps?" she asked, a gleam in her eyes at the thought of fighting, and defeating, something stronger.

"Don't be hasty Hermione, we haven't fought many virus type digimon yet. Elecmon was only another data type digimon, a beta type at that. We, as an alpha type data digimon of the same type should have had no problems against it. A Virus type digimon however should be more of a challenge since they are strong against data type digimon like us. Just because we have won a few battles doesn't mean that we can allow ourselves to become naive enough to think we can win everything as easily," said EGO gruffly.

Taken aback Hermione stood a step back. "I'm Sorry, I didn't mean to imply..."

"Don't worry, Hermione, I'm not angry… it's only natural for you, and for us for that matter, to feel elated over our numerous victories. It's normal, especially since they have become so easy lately. All I'm saying is that we shouldn't become complacent. There is always somebody stronger out there, strong enough to defeat us. Believe me when I say there will come a time when we will have to run, flee for our lives, it's just a matter of time."

Nodding her head Hermione agreed. "Yes EGO, your right, I'm sorry for being presumptive… never the less, my question still stands. Shouldn't we be looking for something...more challenging?" she asked.

"We could, and we will...but first I have another lesson to teach both of you. Harry, you are still getting hit too many times. True, this battle was easy and as such you weren't giving it all you had but that is no excuse to become sloppy. As from now on I expect you to block or dodge every attack no matter now weak or irrelevant it may seem. Is that understood?"

"Yes EGO," said Harry.

"Hermione, while I agree Harry didn't need your help in the battle that was no excuse for you not to help him more, not when you have the cards to spare and when you do not have to save them due to shortage issues. You can easily create more after every battle. You should always keep an eye out for potential weaknesses before they have a chance to happen. You never know when something unexpected might happen. I noticed that you spaced out in the middle of the battle, don't do it again. All it takes is one mistake, one lapse in concentration and Harry could be in big trouble. It's your job to be ready to help him at a split seconds notice should he need it."

Hermione nodded showing that she understood.

"Good, always try to finish battles as quickly as possible... now ... Hermione, your digivice can show you Harry's Energy levels. Do you see the dark brown button on your digivice, Point your digivice at Harry and while doing so press it and say 'status'."

Hermione did so. Immediately the digivice started to display all types of information about Harry.

"Notice how the digivice is silent. By pressing the button you entered 'silent mode'. If you press it again you would return to vocal mode, in which case the digivice would call out the information to you. Useful when you don't want a nearby enemy to hear you."

"Now, do you see the green, blue and red bars near the right top of the screen?"

"Yes"

"Good, that's the status screen. Depending on what digimon your pointing it at, it will attempt to display the digimons energy levels. Some digimon, usually high ranking digimon or digimon with tamers, can block you from seeing this information, some lower wild digimon however can not. For those who can't you will always be able to see their energy levels. Keep an eye on it and use this to your advantage. The information may someday save you, your own or your digimons life."

"Since Harry is your digimon you will always have full information about him. The red bar shows his health, the blue one shows his experience level and the third is his special ability power level. Notice the R, F and IT on the red bar these show you..."

#Not far away, at that very moment.

Unknown to the trio their little battle had not gone unnoticed. Hidden under an invisibility field Gennai had watched the whole battle unfold had been pleasantly surprised by what he had seen.

::Are you sure you don't want to see them yet? he asked suddenly as if speaking to himself. :: They seem to be ready::

:: No, not yet! Not yet come has the time of the king. One last task remains. To the human tamers he must go. Prepare them he must. Only when training complete can the heir himself show," a different far older voice replied. It was a voice of extreme wisdom and unthinkable age... yet incredibly bad grammar.

::Forgive me mother, but... wouldn't it be better if he knew who he really is? :: Gennai asked with a frown. ::It seems somewhat... reckless, to withhold such crucial information from him. If he really is our only hope...then wouldn't it be best if he knew the truth?::

:: No! Too early it is. Simply not ready for such a burden yet the heir is! To early...much too soon! If word were to get out, at this point, not able to protect him I would be:: the voice answered back.

Gennai frowned. ::What about the guard...wouldn't they be able to protect him?:: Gennai asked, disheartened at what he was hearing.

::Strong may they be. Able to protect him they would, for a while at least, but defend him indefinitely they can not. Only one digimon he is, only a champion right now is he. Too weak for such a confrontation he is. Train in peace he must. Advance to Ultimate and Mega he must. Only then meet him I will and victorious can he be. Armies of the Sovereigns, too vast they are. Alone defeat them the Olympian guards can not. Only combined with the full power of the king can victory be achieved :: the voice answered solemnly.

::What would you have me do then mother?:: Gennai asked.

::Watch them you must, protect him you will, Hide them from the Center and South you must, Help you East and West might, only then victory can be achieved: the voice answered.

::I see I will do what I can to protect them mother:: Gennai said. Sighing slightly he looked back towards the trio. It was going to be a few long difficult months. He was sure of it. He only hoped that he could keep them safe. Fanglongmon and Zhuqiaomon would be only too happy to delete him and kill the girl the moment they were to find them. That could not be allowed to happen. The future of the digital world would depend upon it.

Sighing to himself Gennai went back to his task.

Back in the 'real' world

Albus Dumbledore and Severus Snape were busy sitting in Dumbledores office discussing recent Death Eater activities when they were suddenly disturbed by a loud tapping on a window.

Thinking that it was just another normal everyday owl, delivering a letter, Dumbledore didn't bother looking up as he waved his hand to open it. A huge mistake. The moment the window opened a huge black eagle flew into the room. Fawkes, who was the first to see it squawked in alarm and quickly flashed out of the room.

The portraits were next in line. "RUN FOR IT!" one screamed, the next second there was a mass stampede as every painting in the room was quickly vacated by its occupants.

Next were a couple of mice who quickly scurried into a nearby hole, squeaking madly in a desperate attempt to get away from the new menace, not the eagle, but from what the bird was carrying.

Surprised by every-bodies fast exits from his office Dumbledore and Snape both looked up only to gasp, eyes wide, as he saw what the bird was carrying.

With out another word, as quick as a flash, Snape jumped up out of his chair and raced for the door, only just managing in time to throw himself, head first, through the door with a loud scream before the eagle reached its intended target, the only remaining occupant of the room: Albus Dumbledore.

"OH... SHIT!" he said as he noticed the bird was carrying. It was a Fowler. "NOOOO! " he screamed out with a panicking look on his face as the eagle dropped its package. He tried to reach for his wand to cast a shield, but it was already too late. The next second all Albus knew was the horrible smell of hundreds of dung bombs and feces bombs as they blew up into his face with a loud bang, covering himself and his whole office in dragon dung and other nasty surprises.

In the magical world there where two types of ways a wizard or witch could express extreme dissatisfaction over a long distance.

One was a howler: a letter inside a red envelope which had the ability to scream at its recipient with a magnified voice volume of usually ten times that of the casters usual strength. The other, last used sixty years ago due to the automatic fine of 100 galleons per use, was the Fowler, otherwise known as the Fouler, an extremely bad smelling letter cased inside a black and red envelope which literally exploded once reaching its target, showering him or her with dragon dung and other niceties, before screaming at a magnified voice of twenty times the casters usual voice.

DUMBLEDORE YOU BLOODY SPASTICATED VILE MANIPULATIVE GOAT SHAGGING BASTARD OF AN OLD BOOT-LICKING COOT, GUESS WHAT! I QUIT! GO STICK YOUR UGLY FAT HAIRY NOSE WHERE THE SUN DON'T SHINE FOR ALL I CARE BECAUSE I SURE WON'T DO IT FOR YOU NO MORE. I SIRIUS TIBERIUS BLACK HEREWITH AND FOREVER MORE HAVE DECLARED A BLACK BLOOD FEUD AGAINST THE SMELLY HOUSE OF DUMBLEDORE. NOW HOW DO YOU LIKE THAT!

SIRIUS PADFOOT BLACK THE MAGNIFICENT MARAUDER SIGNING OUT! WOOF! WOOF!

The Fowler which could be heard for miles around would be remembered for many years to come and would go down into Hogwarts History as the greatest prank of the whole Marauders history.

Dumbledore would never be the same again.