"Thank you all for joining me." Dumbledore smiled as he allowed Amelia Bones, Susan Bones and Harry Potter to enter his office. Harry had recovered and had been released from the hospital wing two days before. He still looked pale, but from what Professors McGonagall, Flitwick and most surprisingly Snape had said, Harry's power in spell casting was exceptionally improved.
"It always took more than a few tries for him to master spells in my class, this morning he transfigured a toad into a Nifler on his first attempt. I tell you, I've never seen such a marked improvement in a single lesson." McGonagall had said with astonishment.
Rarely has anyone beaten Miss Granger at accomplishing spells, but Mister Potter did so, and with gusto. I tell you it's like he's been blocked and now it's gone." Flitwick agreed.
"Not a single utterance." Snape sneered when he had spoken to the headmaster. "Every student struggles with silent casting, but the boy actually made it look easy. And every spell was as strong as if cast by the Dark lord, or even you, headmaster."
This last had made Dumbledore quite proud. Snape never had a kind word for Harry, even in private, but it was clear that the defense teacher was impressed.
Dumbledore took his seat behind his desk and looked upon his four guests. Professor Snape had consented to join them, though he looked as if he'd rather be anywhere else in the world.
"The time has finally come for me to share with you much that has been hidden from you Harry. I first must apologize to you. As I told you at the end of last year, I felt that it was best for you not to know much, as you deserved a chance for some kind of normalcy. Your life, I am sad to say, as been as far from normal as one could get."
"You might say that." Harry smiled.
"Indeed. Now, The reason I am telling you everything now is because, I am very tired, and the time is near for me to step down as Headmaster of this school. I wish to spend my remaining time upon this earth in relaxation, perhaps write a book to share my knowledge with the world."
The headmaster's announcement was met with looks of stunned surprise. Harry and Susan looked at each other as if to question if the other had heard the same thing they had. Amelia's eyes had popped wide, and Snape stood more rigidly.
"I have led a very long and fruitful life. Unfortunately, most of that life has been spent fighting. Fighting against the Darkness, Fighting for those who have been trod upon, and fighting for the betterment of all magical beings by trying to promote equality. Despite my efforts, we as a society, are still woefully behind muggles in many ways. I have done all that I could, and now, I am tired. I have one final task to perform, and then I wish to move on."
"Move on, sir?" Harry asked, catching that Dumbledore hadn't said retire. Was Dumbledore thinking of dying?
"Yes, Harry. Move on. Perhaps spending my time along the shore. But before that time comes, I have sworn that I will help you in the path fate has made for you. Tonight, I plan to share with you my knowledge of the being who calls himself Lord Voldemort, and how it was that he cheated death, and how it is I plan to see to his ultimate destruction. For that, I must start at the beginning. You will remember that it all began with a prophecy told to me by a prospective seer, seeking employment here at the school." Dumbledore said, and Harry nodded.
"Hold up." Susan said suddenly. "You never told me about any prophecy."
Harry shrugged but didn't look at her.
"Harry, We just talked about secrets not to long ago."
"And I told you nearly everything." Harry argued.
"You left out that there was a prophecy about you. Did you know?" Susan asked her Aunt who slowly nodded.
"Dumbledore told me not long after we discovered the contract. In fact, I am unsure whether or not I will be surprised by anything said tonight."
"Do not count your hippogriffs before they hatch." Dumbledore smiled kindly.
"We're going to have another chat later." Susan scowled at Harry and he tried to look apologetic.
"Shall we continue?" Dumbledore asked with a sly smile. They all fell silent once again. Dumbledore took a deep breath and continued.
"That night, a young man in the service of Voldemort was eaves dropping, in the vain hopes to advance in the ranks of the Dark Lord. A man who later realized the err of his ways and tried very hard to fix his mistakes."
"Dumbledore?" Snape said softly, though there was menace in his voice.
"He came to me and pleaded for me to save the life of your mother, Harry. He became a spy and fed us information in exchnage for protecting your family."
"You swore to me." Snape said more loudly now.
"You?" Harry turned to stared aghast at Snape.
"Professor Snape and your mother had been friends in school. They had a falling out, but Professor Snape never forgot how much he cared…"
"YOU SWORE NEVER TO TELL!" Snape bellowed.
"You've held onto your anger long enough, and you've punished this boy for the sins of his father for too long. He has every right to know the part you played in his life Severus." Dumbledore snapped back. Snape looked thunderously at the Headmaster and Dumbledore matched his ire.
Snape turned to stare out the window.
"You told Voldemort about the prophecy?" Harry asked in shock. "You're the reason my parents are dead?"
With every syllable, Harry's rage rose. This man who'd been the bane of his school existence ever since he'd arrived at Hogwarts. The same man who'd bullied him and taunted him all because of a school time rivalry he'd had with his father was the man responsible for Voldemort seeking out his parents and killing them.
"Why?" Harry said as he rose to his feet to face Snape as a man.
"Harry…" Susan tried, but Harry held up his hand to silence her.
"I asked you a question, Professor." Harry snarled coldly.
"You will never understand, Potter." Snape said, his own voice low and distant.
"They're dead because of YOU!" Harry raged. "And all these years you…"
Harry lunged and Snape turned in time as Harry's fist caught his jaw, knocking him backward a bit. Susan, Amelia and Dumbledore all rose, and Dumbledore had his wand out. Harry was stopped from attacking Snape further, but his eyes were clouded over with bloodlust. Snape merely wiped at his mouth, checking for blood and scowling at Harry.
"The Dark Lord was a force." spit out. "A beacon for those who believed that wizards were the superior beings. It was only after you were in his service that you learned what kind of wizard he truly was. His most powerful weapon was the fear he instilled in his faithful. It was most of the reason he was so feared everywhere else. We, his Death Eaters turned the fear we felt for him to our victims in his name. I needed to be a part of his circle. It was the only way I knew I would survive his service. We all knew it. His greatest enemy was Dumbledore, and so I took it upon myself to find out all I could. The first night, my first attempt to spy, I was caught and thrown out into the night. But I had heard something that I knew my master needed to hear. And he rewarded me."
Snape turned, a slight manic expression on his face.
"But then he revealed to us who he believed the child of the prophecy to be. He told us all, and he told us what he meant to do. And the instant I heard the name, My world which I had spent years constructing, came crashing apart. My greatest rival, and my… Greatest…"
Snape turned away quickly, his fists clenched tightly as he pounded the window frame. He spun on his heel and glared at Dumbledore."
"I hope that you burn you old fool!" He snapped.
"You loved her." Susan said softly. "Harry's mother, you loved her didn't you?"
"Oh my god." Amelia gasped.
"It was my own pride and my anger that drove her away. My refusal to let James Potter's insults, taunts and tricks to roll off my back. Perhaps if I had, he and his friends would have become bored and left me alone. Lily always stuck up for me, but the angrier I became with James Potter, the more I took it out on Lily Evans."
"Professor Snape came to me and revealed what Voldemort had planned, and with his help, I was able to protect your parents, Harry. But as you know, their trust in the wrong person became their ultimate downfall." Dumbledore said, hoping to pull the attention off of Snape and allow the man to settle down a bit. Harry refused to look away from Snape.
"The night after I placed you in your Aunt's care, Professor Snape came to me again, and I revealed to him that you were alive. I then told him that while Voldemort was broken, he was not gone forever. I knew then that Voldemort had delved very deeply into the Dark Arts. Though how deeply, I could only guess."
"Horcruxes." Amelia whispered the word. At this, Harry finally turned away from Snape. Both Harry and Susan had questioning looks on their faces.
"Harry, at the end of your second year, you told me a fantastic tale of the shadow of tom riddle emerging from this." Dumbledore opened a drawer and place a ruined book on his desk. A book that Harry recognized as Tom Riddle's diary.
It was then that I knew at last just how Lord Voldemort had preserved himself. By that time however, we knew that Lord Voldemort was growing in power. He had already tried to get the Philosopher's stone, but you had thwarted him. But until you explained to me about how Ginny Weasley had been possessed from writing in this book, I still had no idea how he'd done it. But this book gave me the answer."
"I don't understand." Susan said shaking her head. "What is a horcrux and what does this book have to do with any of it?"
"A horcrux," Dumbledore began. "Is a means to anchor a part of your soul to this world. In essence you will never die, so long as the horcrux remains intact."
"How do you even make one?" Susan asked confused.
"Through a supreme act of evil. Murder." Dumbledore said softly, and Susan shivered. "Killing someone will rip your soul. Not defending yourself or protecting someone, but killing in cold blood. You then attached that torn fragment of soul in an object. Lord Voldemort used this diary, which Harry destroyed."
"But I did that in second year, and Voldemort came back in Fourth year." Harry pointed out as he finally sat back down.
"Yes, that is true." Dumbledore nodded. "But you forget that he was already growing in strength. With this destroyed, he could be killed for good, had he not already taken steps to prevent that. You see, Voldemort made not one, not two, but six Horcruxes."
"Six?" Harry and Susan gasped in appalled horror.
"Six. You see, Voldemort believed that the most magical number was seven, and so, with his six Horcruxes and the remaining bit in his body, he had seven anchors keeping him here, in this world. And so, I made it my mission to seek them out, and destroy them all."
Dumbledore reached into his desk and pulled several object out, placing them on his desk. A ring with a finely cut black stone. A heavy looking locket with an S done in shining stones. A golden cup with a familiar looking crest.
"That's the Hufflepuff badger." Susan said, pointing to the cup.
"That is because this cup once belonged to Helga Hufflepuff, but now it is a desecrated foul thing. As are all of these." Dumbledore scoffed. "This Locket once belonged to Salazar Slytherin, and the ring once belong to the Peverell family, your ancestors Harry, Voldemort's Ancestors."
"Wait, we're related?" Harry asked disgusted.
"Very, very distantly. Each of these items was collected by Voldemort and turned for his foul purpose." Dumbledore explained.
"How did you get them?" Harry asked.
"I had a little help from Sirius' younger brother." Dumbledore smiled as he took another diary from his desk. "Regulus Black, not unlike Professor Snape, fell for Voldemort's charm. But when he understood what it meant to serve, he decided that he had to try and stop him. He discovered these and hid them. Unfortunately, he was killed before he could collect them all. At this moment, two are missing. One I believe is rarely out of Lord Voldemort's sight. His snake Nagini. The other, is somewhere within this castle, and I believe I am close to discovering its location."
"Why haven't you destroyed them?" Harry asked.
"For two reason. One, I wished to have them all, to make sure the job was done and done right. The second was because I had to make sure every single one was destroyed. You see Harry, When Lord Voldemort killed your mother, she place and enchantment…"
"I know about the protection." Harry said quickly.
"Yes, but what you do not know is that while her sacrifice protected you from death, it also cursed you. When Voldemort tried to kill you and the spell bounced back and destroyed him, a fragment of his very fragile soul was torn from the rest, and it attached itself to you. That scar that you have carried for so many years was more than a souvenir from that night, but a horcrux.
Harry leapt out of his chair, and began backing away with a truly panicked look upon his face. Dumbledore was on his feet again, as was Susan and Amelia.
"I.." Harry stammered.
"Harry, It is alright." Dumbledore said quickly. "It is gone."
"Gone?" Harry looked confused as his hands rubbed his scar.
"Gone. Miss Bones saw to it."
"I did?" Susan turned to look at Dumbledore, who smiled.
"You did." Dumbledore waved for everyone to sit down again. "Harry I have often told you that your greatest strength is your ability to love. I have told you how powerful love is and that it is our greatest magic. I've known ever since I figured out that your scar was a horcrux that the way to destroy it was for you to find real love with someone. I had thought perhaps you might find it with Miss Granger, or even perhaps Miss Weasley. But when Madam bones came and told me about the Contract between Susan and yourself, I knew that this was our opportunity. I knew of course that you cannot force two people to love, but I had faith that if given time, that you might find love in each other. And to my great pleasure, you did. And it was because of that love that the horcrux is gone. You will remember Harry that Voldemort tried to possess you, and how he was hurt when you felt a surge of emotion, a surge of love?"
Harry could only nod.
"It was then that I knew for sure that it would take an act of purest love to rid you of the horcrux once and for all. Miss Bones…"
"I think that's enough." Amelia held up a hand. Dumbledore gave a courteous nod.
"Why didn't you tell us?" Susan asked. "You've been watching us all this time. What if we'd hated each other? What would you have done then? You could have at least told us about that…"
Susan pointed at Harry's scar and he shivered.
"I thought he'd died!" She shouted. "Everything was so amazing and then he…" Susan looked ready to cry, yet Harry could not remember her ever looking so angry. Not even when they'd dueled at her house, which Harry felt had been so long ago.
"I thought I had done something wrong. That we'd done something wrong. If you'd only told us before." Susan ranted.
"Susan, we couldn't put that burden on you." Amelia tried.
"You knew about all of this? I trusted you. Why couldn't you tell me? Did you think I couldn't handle it?"
"Susan, sit down." Amelia shouted at her niece. She knew Susan's temper could get the best of her, but now was not the time.
"If we had explained this all to you before now, you might not have fallen in love. It would have placed a very heavy burden upon you both, one that you didn't need. You were already under immense pressure to establish some kind of cordial relationship in order to coexist. Everything you felt for each other had to be pure, or the horcrux would remain." Dumbledore said, trying to ease Susan's and Harry's anger.
"How many people could have died?" Susan asked, her voice low and cold.
"Tell me, Miss Bones, how might you feel about Harry if I had told you everything? With all that pressure upon you, would you not resent him?" Dumbledore asked.
Susan couldn't answer, but deep inside she knew it was likely true. When she had first learned that she would have to Marry Harry, she didn't much care for him. She remembered how reluctant she had been at first to talk with him. That had all changed pretty quickly, but if she had known from the start what their relationship might mean…
"What matters now is that the two of you have overcome everything, and that your feelings for one another are genuine." Dumbledore said, hoping to calm Susan and Harry down, as Harry was still clearly agitated. "And now that The Horcrux is broken, you Harry are now free from Voldemort. You should no longer be victim to his visions or emotions which have plagued you."
"Really?" Harry asked, his anger fading almost at once upon learning that he may not have to suffer horrible vision and nightmares. "No more headaches?" He asked eagerly.
"I think not." Dumbledore smiled. "I also believe that something else has happened. I am sure you must have noticed that your use of magic has improved."
"Uh, yeah I think it has." Harry admitted. In truth, he had noticed in his first Transfiguration class. He'd beaten Hermione for the first time ever, finishing his assignment on his first attempt. This had been the first of quite a few not so subtle improvements. In Defense, He suddenly had no trouble whatsoever casting silently. That had been some of his toughest work, and suddenly he felt as if it were second nature.
"Your teachers have reported as much." Dumbledore smiled. "All these years, the horcrux in you scar has been feeding off your magic. You have been stunted in your magical growth, and now that it is gone, you are experiencing a surge in power. How long it will last, and how powerful it is remains to be seen. But what is certain is that you are now free of Lord Voldemort's influence. You have fulfilled the prophecy."
"No I haven't." Harry argued. "He's still alive. I haven't killed him and he hasn't killed me."
"But you have." Dumbledore said with a smile. "The prophecy that one could not live, while the other survives. So long as the horcrux remained, you were not free to live your life. His fragment of soul is destroyed, and you are now free to live your life. However, Lord Voldemort does not understand the prophecy as we do. He will continue to pursue you until he has killed you. In the end, you will have to face him. But perhaps we can make it happen on our terms."
"What do you mean?" Amelia asked.
"Severus and I have been working on a plan. When I have the last horcrux in my possession, I would like it Harry if you would help me to destroy them all. I will then send Professor Snape to report what he has 'learned' of my activities. He will also report that I plan to take Harry to a special location at the end of the school year."
"you're setting up an ambush." Amelia smiled.
"Precisely." Dumbledore smiled. "We will give him a chance to attack Harry. All the while, we will have aurors, and members of the Order of the Phoenix lying in wait."
"What's to guarantee that Harry won't be killed?" Susan asked angrily. "You're just using him as bait."
"What if I refuse?" Harry asked darkly.
"Would you?" Dumbledore asked. "Knowing Lord Voldemort as you do, could you turn your back on people who care about you and leave them to his mercy?"
Harry shook his head, but he clearly looked even more bitter. "That's emotional blackmail." He said.
"And it is the truth." Dumbledore retorted. "Harry, I never wanted you to have to face these things. Had I the choice, you would have grown up in the care of your mother and father. You would have been properly cared for, and had a happy life. But I am not all powerful, nor can I change the past. All I can do, is take you under my personal tutelage now that the link between you and Lord Voldemort has been severed, and do my very best to impress upon you as much of my knowledge as I can before you meet Lord Voldemort again. And know this, if I am correct, Lord Voldemort will be greatly weakened when next you face him. For every piece of his soul that we destroy, the more magic he loses."
"How can you be sure?" Amelia asked.
"I can be sure of nothing, but I believe it to be so." Dumbledore sighed.
"That's taking a big risk." Amelia said.
"We all want this war to end swiftly. I wish there was another way, but…" Dumbledore held up his hands and shrugged.
Harry agreed after a very long silence and soon after he and Susan bade everyone goodnight.
"You had better make sure he is prepared, Dumbledore." Amelia said getting her feet and putting on her cloak. "If anything happens to that boy, and Susan gets her heart broken, I will hold you personally responsible, and I will se to it you spend what remains of your life in Azkaban."
"If that happens, Amelia, I will go willingly." Dumbledore smiled serenely.
When Amelia left, Snape turned his savage glare on the headmaster. "You swore to me that no one would ever know what happened."
"Harry needed to know. He needed to understand why his life turned out the way it did. You had just as much a hand in it as I, and I will no longer take sole blame for the circumstances. You have spent the last five years taking out your self hatred upon that boy, instead of helping him to prepare for what will come."
"Do you want to be the pot, or the kettle, Albus?" Snape snarled.
"I have already said that I am as much to blame. But I am trying to rectify it, unlike you."
"Oh don't preach to me." Snape roared. "I have put my life on the line whenever I spied for you. Any slip and my ruse would have been undone, and I would have been killed. So don't sit there on your throne and look down upon me for how I treat that arrogant little…"
"One more word Severus, and I will make sure you never utter another for the rest of your days."
Dumbledore had risen to his feet now, and in doing so unleashed his fury. Snape had once seen Dumbledore this angry, and that anger had been directed at him then too. Snape held up his hands in surrender and took a step backward.
"Were you serious when you said you meant to retire?" Snape asked.
"You know as well as I do that I have little chance to survive. But if I do, I intend to retire. I will be recommending Professor McGonagall be named my successor. Knowing her feeling towards you, Severus, I would begin making plans for future employment, or perhaps, early retirement as well. Good evening, Severus."
Snape scowled and left the headmaster, slamming the office door as he went. Dumbledore sat down again and sighed. He was burning his bridges now, and he had no intention of trying to repair them. His life was forfeit, and he was not saddened by it, especially if it meant that Harry would at last have the happiness he deserved. If they could just finish this…
"I'm so angry." Susan said as she and Harry entered their private rooms. "How can you be so calm?"
She had whirled on Harry who gave her a shocked look.
"Calm? You think I'm calm? I just found out I've had a piece of that sick psychopath in my head for the last fifteen years, and you think I'm calm? He's seen everything I've ever done, and everyone I've ever cared for. He knows me as well as I know myself. He knows what I feel for you. And all this time, Dumbledore's known and never bothered to tell me? Oh yeah, I'm the picture of calm." Harry snapped, tearing off his robe and throwing it onto the sofa.
"I'm sorry." Susan said, he voice much softer now. She came to Harry and took his hands in hers, forcing him to look into her eyes. "For everything Harry."
"I know, and I don't blame you for any of it. The way I see it, there are a host of people who are responsible. One of them is trying to make amends at least, though he's got a funny way of doing it. The others will pay."
"Voldemort and Snape?" Susan asked.
"And Wormtail." Harry said quickly. "That fat bald bastard is not going to get away with what he did either."
"What do we do?" Susan asked.
"I'll train with Dumbledore, and then, I'll pass on everything to the DA. I'm not going to let anyone be defenseless."
"Do you think Dumbledore's plan will work?" Susan asked curiously, guiding Harry towards the bedroom.
"In a perfect world, yes. But I know that every plan can fail, and I expect this one to as well. But until I can come up with my own, then I guess this is our only option."
They fell silent and Susan stared at Harry for several moments before she reached up and took his face in her hands, kissing him deeply.
"We… I think we need to… we need to…" Susan tried, her throat closing each time she tried.
"What is it?" Harry asked curiously.
Susan pulled away from Harry and sat on their bed, looking at him trepidatiously.
"After what happened, I got really scared. I thought you had died. When I found out you were going to be ok, I felt so relieved, but I was afraid of… you know."
Harry looked at her strangely and the comprehension dawned on his face and he gave a sad smile.
"Auntie must have guessed how I was feeling because she took me aside the day before you woke up and told me that as soon as you were well enough that we needed to… you know, otherwise we may never do it again, and it would be robbing ourselves. I've been thinking it over and up until that it was good. I mean, really good."
"Yeah it was." Harry agreed a stupid smile on his face. Susan couldn't help but laugh at his look, making him laugh in return. In just a moment they were both in full fledged, holding their guts, wiping tears laughter.
When they finally settled back down, fifteen minutes later Susan looked at Harry and gave him a questioning look. Harry shrugged his shoulders as he straightened up, still with that stupid grin which made Susan giggle a bit. She leapt off the bed and grabbed Harry around his neck and pulled him into a long deeply passionate kiss, which he felt all the way down to his toes.
Susan awoke and sighed deeply contented. Her legs were still shaking a bit. She smiled to herself. That had been what Hannah had talked about. That was how it had supposed to have been like. And Susan could not wait to do it again.
Susan didn't want to move, but nature was calling to her and if she didn't get up and answer it… she didn't want to think about that. Slipping out of Harry's embrace, Susan made it to the bathroom and took care of her body's needs. After she'd washed, she slipped back into the bedroom, shivering in the cold, and holding her arms over herself. She stopped as she reached the bed again and smiled at Harry, whose face was lit by the moon shining through their window. He looked so handsome, and peaceful. Susan knew now how lucky she was.
She slipped back under the blankets and Harry slipped his arms around her once again, mumbling sleepily. Susan couldn't help but smile as she got comfortable again. As she shut her eyes again, parts of the evening replayed in her mind. Dumbledore's plan to defeat Voldemort was risky, and Susan knew that they would need some serious luck if they were going to be ensure victory.
Susan's eyes flew open as she suddenly remembered the tiny vial of gold liquid she had one in her very first potions lesson that year. She had completely forgotten about it as she had no need to use it until now. And it wasn't her that had the need for it, it was Harry.
A plan of her own formed in her head, and Susan suddenly felt much better than she had all night, excepting when she'd felt that incredible wave of sensation when she and Harry had made love earlier. Now Susan felt sure that Harry would make it through whatever fate had in store for him, because she had something to sway the odds in their favor. What was more, she was certain that Hermione still had her own vial and that she would give it to Harry for the same reason. To protect him.
Susan promised that she would speak to the bushy haired witch the next morning at breakfast.
Harry sighed contentedly and shifted a bit, sending tingles through Susan's body.
"Maybe at lunch. We might not make it to breakfast." Susan smiled to herself.