Albus Dumbledore rushed towards the atrium of the Ministry of Magic as fast as his legs could carry him. Not having the time to wait for a lift, he was forced to climb the stairs with as much speed as he could. He might be powerful for his age, and his magic might help a lot when it came to ensuring that he was more athletic than his peers, but the fact was that he was more than a century and a half old. Running was definitely a young man's game.

For the nth time that night, his mind went over the circumstances that lead to this situation.

It was with a deep sense of foreboding that he reached Grimmauld Place and found it empty except for a cackling House-Elf.

Kreacher had told him that Sirius had gone to the Department of Mysteries. But it was more than evident that the House-Elf was keeping something from him.

With judicious use of Legilimency, it wasn't long before Albus got to the bottom of the matter.

Furious (and not a little scared) he had Apparated straight to the Ministry.

The battle he found raging in the Department of Mysteries was intense, but he was able to use the element of surprise and round up the Death Eaters.

Unfortunately, it wasn't enough. He had turned just in time to see Sirius falling through the veil of death, felled by his own cousin.

Rounding up the remaining Death Eaters in the Death Chamber took up his attention, relegating the loss to the back of his mind. A part of him noted that Remus had Harry restrained, preventing the boy from committing suicide.

He had not expected Bellatrix to dispatch Kingsley so easily. Turning around, he snapped off a spell hoping to incapacitate her, only to watch in frustration when she blocked it without as much as pausing on her way out.

That's when things got even worse.

Albus still didn't know why he had frozen when Harry had gone off in pursuit of the mad Death Eater in grief-stricken rage. He berated himself again as he reached the last staircase. He should have done something!

Reaching the top, he took a moment to collect himself before striding forward. He would definitely need the respite for the inevitable battle ahead. Catching a glimpse of the tableau before him, however, he was forced to lengthen his stride. Voldemort had come to the Ministry, after all. And he and Bellatrix were both closing in on a schoolboy whom he had utterly failed.

He was just within range to act when the fireplace just towards his left came to life.

'What the – Dumbledore?!' said the Auror who came out of the fire. Quickly shrugging off any drowsiness he was feeling, he brought his wand up to bear.

Albus had no choice but to deal with this threat first. With nary a flick, he slapped away the spell and froze the arm holding the wand to the caster's side.

'AVADA KEDAVRA!'

Hearing the high cold voice of Voldemort brought the previous urgency back to Albus' mind. Out of the corner of his eye, he registered that the Auror had also turned and was dumbly staring at the impossible in fear.

But that didn't really matter to Albus as he could only watch helplessly as Harry Potter was enveloped by the green light of the Killing Curse.

A gamut of emotions swept through Albus' mind as he comprehended what he had seen. Chief amongst them was fury.

He turned at the Auror next to him and gave him a long look convening his disappointment and disgust with the man and by proxy the Ministry of Magic. If he did not have to deal with this man, he would have been able to intercept that spell, and Harry would still be...

'Go and alert your superiors that Harry Potter and I were right all along, if you can.' He said flatly. 'Meanwhile, I will try to minimise the damage already caused by you and yours. Meanwhile I hope it pleases you to know that an innocent boy has just lost his life thanks to your interference.'

Not giving the stricken Auror a second thought, Dumbledore turned on his heel and disappeared.

Reappearing behind the destroyed fountain and in front of Voldemort, Albus used the distraction his sudden appearance had caused to animate the statues to life. The golden statue of the witch, now strengthened to withstand spells, went rushing towards Bellatrix, pinning the Death Eater down.

Voldemort was quick to recover. Vanishing from sight and reappearing near the pool of water, he paid no mind to the headless statue of the wizard as it gently picked up the body of the brat. He registered that the statues of the goblin and elf had gone towards the fireplaces, no doubt to alert the incompetents who worked for the government, but he similarly did not care for them either. It was about time that the world knew that Lord Voldemort was back.

No, his attention was only on his opponent. It wasn't the first time he had seen such a look of cold anger in those blue eyes, but it was the first time he had felt so much intensity.

A smile of anticipation came on his face. Clearly, the brat's death had affected his former Transfiguration teacher dearly.

'You should not have come here, Tom,' Dumbledore said coldly.

Here's chapter one. As you can see, it ends in a cliffhanger.

Well, see you next week!