Albus Dumbledore and the Everlasting Flame

Disclaimer: this is a work of fan fiction based on the worlds created by JK Rowling

"Journeys are the markers by which we measure our lives"

Chapter 3 – Back to Hogwarts

'Arise and shine, for the morning is young but not the boy, for another year has passed in the sands of time!'

So Archaeon Dumbledore boomed a greeting to Albus on the morning of September the first. Albus fumbled about underneath his blankets, trying to make sense of the words that had pierced his dreams. He sat up, blinking wildly in the bright morning sunshine. It took him a few moments to see through the haze. His eyes were taking an unusually long time to focus on the people standing around his bed. Eventually the haze cleared and he could see his mother, father and brother Aberforth, and Mars McGonagall peering over the edge of the bunk-bed above Albus' head. Fawkes was sitting on his perch as usual. The brightly coloured phoenix gave him a subtle wink.

'Happy birthday, dearest,' Lubo said. She leaned down and planted a kiss on Albus' forehead, using both hands to hold his cheeks. Albus received handshakes in turn from his father and brother, before he was able to turn his attention towards the pile of presents at the foot of his bed.

The first was a small package from Mars. As soon as Albus picked it up and turned it over in his hands, Mars' head disappeared over the edge of the bunk-bed. Albus teased open the plain brown wrapping and discovered something quite unexpected. It was a rudimentary hour glass, filled with bright yellow sand and made of a rather plain sort of wood and almost opaque glass. It looked just about ready to fall apart on itself.

'Thank you Mars,' Albus said, sounding genuinely pleased. Mars' head reappeared over the edge. His face was pink. Albus asked, 'did you make this?'

'Yes,' Mars said softly. 'It isn't very good, I know, but I used sand from the Egyptian desert to make the glass and to put in the hour glass.'

'That is just brilliant!' Albus exclaimed. Mars' eyes lit up. 'I don't think Professor Prewett will have any complaints over your wand-work in Charms if you can make something like this.'

Mars went scarlet and disappeared again. Albus smiled quietly to himself as he stowed the hour glass on the shelf beside his bed. He would use a few spells of his own to tidy up the appearance of his new timekeeper, and would add a Constant Turn Spell to keep his timekeeper flipping over every time the sand ran out.

Albus noticed that Aberforth was hopping from foot to foot impatiently.

'Open mine,' Aberforth said, 'the one with the grey wrapping.'

Albus did so, and discovered that he had just become the owner of 'A Guide to Magical Secret Keeping' by Orion Oberworthy. He turned the book over to read the blurb.

'Want to keep secrets?' Albus read out loud, 'then this is the book for you! Learn how to enchant codes into the walls of your residence! Become an expert at hiding real objects inside the painted world of portraits! Seal the lips of your trusted confidantes so that they will never unleash your secrets! Befuddle those who seek to steal your secrets by …'

'That is quite enough,' Archaeon growled. 'I do not quite know where Aberforth found that book but I doubt it was in Flourish and Blotts. I will hex you later, boy, for going down Knockturn Alley without permission!'

'I never went down Knockturn Alley!' Aberforth said. 'I swear I did not!' As he said it, Aberforth flashed a wink at Albus. Archaeon, who never missed a trick, promptly hexed Aberforth so that he was smacking himself on his backside with his own hands. Aberforth started yelling, 'ouch! Make me stop hitting myself!' whilst running around Albus' bedroom, spanking his own bum. Mars and Albus rolled around on their beds, laughing until the tears rolled, before Lubo finally ended Archaeon's punishment.

'Aberforth's lesson is learned,' Lubo said; the twinkle in her blue eye reserved for Albus. 'Now, Albus, open the present your father and I purchased for you.'

Albus reached for the third and last present in his pile. It was a lumpy package that felt quite soft for something of its size. Albus was too impatient to hesitate with the unwrapping of the parcel. He tore the wrapping to shreds. Out fell a large silken robe with vertical stripes of light green and scarlet. Albus knew at once what he had been given.

'The uniform of the Caerphilly Catapults!' he cried. 'This is … oh; thank-you mother and father!' Albus gave his lean mother a tight hug.

Aberforth and Mars watched; eyes green with envy, as Albus dressed in the handsome Catapults uniform. Although the scarlet and green stripes did not match Albus' blue eyes or auburn hair, he could see in his bedroom mirror that he looked quite dashing as a Caerphilly Catapult. He stood with his hands on his hips in front of the mirror, imagining himself on the Quidditch pitches of the League, making Welsh hearts skip for joy at the performances of their young champion.

'I have one more thing to give you,' Archaeon added once Albus had finished appraising himself in the mirror. 'Something I found in Egypt that I thought you might find … useful this year.'

Archaeon placed a small square box of wood on Albus' open palms. He opened the box and saw a small locket fashioned in the shape of an eye. In the classic Egyptian manner, the eye was framed by heavy black lines. A thick black eyebrow ran over the top, and underneath the eye a black line looped downwards in a single curl. A darker black arrow ran vertically in front of the curl.

'In Egyptian myth,' Archaeon began, not allowing Albus to express any gratitude for the gift, 'the solar falcon god Horus did battle with the sun eating serpent god Set. During that battle, Set tore out Horus' left eye. This left eye is the symbol of the lunar cycle, as the eye of the moon is torn from the sky once a month. The left eye rules intuition and magic. Healing and protective power lies within this locket.'

'Thank you,' Albus said, burying his face in Archaeon's great chest and doing his best to wrap his arms around his father. He did not really know why he needed healing or protection, but he supposed that the recent encounter with Imhotep and the dark powers of Professors Black and Fudge had Archaeon worried. He guessed that Archaeon wanted to make sure that Albus did not have to keep making Protective Potions for his own self-defense.

'Now that Albus has opened his presents, boys, we need to get moving,' Lubo said. The Hogwarts Express leaves at eleven; so I suggest we all descend to breakfast and prepare ourselves for farewells and train journeys.'

But apparently Albus was not done receiving presents. Fawkes fluttered over and landed on Albus' shoulder, crooning gently. He held out an object in one of his claws. Albus reached up and took it from the phoenix. To his surprise, he discovered that it was a perfectly round crystal ball, although much smaller than the ones used by Seers.

'Thank you, Fawkes, but why would I need a crystal ball?' Albus said over his shoulder.

'It is not a crystal ball,' Archaeon said. Albus' father was eyeing the glass orb with a furrowed brow and a look of some consternation. 'In fact, I cannot say what it is. I think I should take it and examine it before …'

'Oh no, father,' Albus protested. 'Do let me keep it! Fawkes would never give me something that is dangerous.'

'I have no doubt,' Archaeon said, wresting the orb from Albus' grasp. 'However, I shall examine it thoroughly and send it to you via owl post once I am satisfied with what it is.'

'I could just ask Fawkes to tell me,' Albus said. 'He can speak to me through his eyes, you know.'

But Fawkes had evaporated in a flash of flame. Archaeon patted Albus on the head and apparated from the room with Lubo, leaving a very puzzled boy behind him.

'Cheer up, mate,' Mars said, hopping down from his bed. 'You still have four other wonderful presents. Well, three, mine is not so wonderful …'

'The hour glass is just perfect, Mars,' Albus said, smiling to forget his disappointment at having Fawkes' crystal ball taken from him. 'Now let's breakfast, shall we?'

The boys raced each other to the Dumbledore dining hall, where Nibs had prepared a three-course breakfast of eggs, bacon, sausages, toast, porridge and fruit topped off with rich chocolate cake to celebrate Albus' twelfth birthday. When the meal was complete, Albus' stomach felt ready to burst. He thanked Nibs, who squealed in delight at being spoken too, and proceeded upstairs to make sure that he had packed everything for a year at Hogwarts.

Albus stood over his trunk, mentally ticking off things on his list. School robes. Caerphilly Catapults Uniform. Gryffindor robes. School text-books. A Better Way to Transfigure – the book that had saved his life last year. Guide to Magical Secret Keeping. Quills, cauldrons and potions ingredients. Mars' hour-glass. The Eye of Horus locket. The stunning sapphire ankh from Egypt. Albus' treasured Cleansweep Two broom. And last, but certainly not least, was Albus' handsome twelve and a half inch willow wand with its unique phoenix feather and unicorn tail core.

'Come on, boys, its time to go,' Lubo called from the door. Albus closed his trunk and locked it with a flick of his wand. Mars, who had been searching high and low for all his belongings on Albus' bedroom floor, did the same. Lubo levitated their trunks and they were on their way. Even though the Dumbledores could have used Fawkes' ability to apparate with people holding on to his tail to travel to London, Archaeon insisted that they fly by broomstick to 'sample the fresh air', as he liked to put it.

With invisibility spells on, his hands on the smooth handle of his Cleansweep Two, and the cool Welsh breeze on his face, Albus felt terrific. He was newly twelve years old and headed back to his favourite place in the world.

At Kings Cross Station in London, having passed through the famous barrier at Platform 9¾, Archaeon and Lubo Dumbledore said farewell to their children and their guest.

'It has been lovely having you,' Lubo said, planting a kiss on Mars' cheek.

'Thank you for having me,' Mars said, eyes shining. He shook hands with Archaeon before hiding his embarrassment by making pretence of lugging his trunk on to the train.

'Keep out of trouble this year, dearest,' Lubo said to Albus. She kissed each of Albus' cheeks. 'I do not want you in Egyptian crypts fighting newly re-born dark wizards this year, do you hear me?'

'I will do my best,' Albus said, struggling to contain a grin.

'… no more reports that you have been digging a new tunnel out of Hogwarts,' Archaeon was busy lecturing Aberforth. 'Keep your nose clean this year; it is an important one in your education.'

Aberforth feigned a serious look as he shook his father's hand, kissed his mother goodbye and headed off with his trunk. Albus was left to say farewell to his father.

'You need to look after yourself this year,' Archaeon said, dropping to one knee so that he could look Albus in the eye. 'The consequences of what happened in Imhotep's Crypt a few months ago may yet affect you.'

'Consequences?' said Albus. 'What do you mean?'

'I do not want you to worry about anything,' Archaeon said, his eyes softening. 'You have a number of protective devices in your possession, namely the Eye of Horus, your ankh and your phoenix; not to mention that there are people at Hogwarts who will be looking out for you. But my warning remains: look after yourself.'

'Yes, sure, father,' Albus said. 'You should not worry about me. Worry about Aberforth.'

Archaeon laughed; a deep, throaty chuckle that Albus was particularly fond of. The Hogwarts' Express gave a loud hoot to signal that it was ready to leave. Albus gave Archaeon one last hug before hurrying to throw his trunk onto the train, which was already starting to move along the platform.

Once Albus had waved goodbye to his parents, he went off down the corridor in search of a compartment. He hoped that Mars would have already located some of the other Pirates. Sure enough, Mars was in a cabin crowded with three other boys.

'Albus!' the boys cried almost all at once. Albus hurried inside so that he could shake hands and renew his acquaintance with his roommates from Gryffindor. Edward Stephenson with his red hair, blue eyes and freckles had little to say, but stared at Albus with barely concealed awe. Edward was a muggle, the weakest wizard of the five and permanently amazed by Albus' ability. Alabastor Meadowes' blonde hair dangled over his brown eyes. He shook Albus' hand vigorously and started talking about his holidays, but was quickly silenced by the loud voice of William Potter. With lank, messy dark hair and a dashing smile, William was the best looking of the boys and also the most self-confident. He wrung Albus' hand and proceeded to offer a long discourse on his holidays. Albus stowed his trunk away under his seat and sat down to listen intently to William speaking.

'…my birthday was quite fantastic, actually,' William was jabbering, 'and my presents were simply smashing. My great grandfather said some Seer foretold that he was going to die this August, so he thought he would give me his most precious possession for my twelfth birthday.'

William paused, looking at the other four boys expectantly. When it became clear that he was waiting for someone to ask what the present was, Albus spoke up.

'What did you get?' he asked.

William grinned, his irrepressible grin; ran a hand through his hair and reached down to open his trunk. He pulled out a long, silky cloak that seemed to have hundreds of different colours woven into its predominantly black material.

'Merlin's beard,' Albus said. He was the only one to recognize the cloak for what it was, having read about them somewhere before. 'That is an invisibility cloak.'

'An invisibility cloak!' cried Mars and Alabastor together. Edward just sat with his mouth open.

'Yes,' William said proudly. He stood up and flung it over his head. In a trice, William had ceased to exist. Alabastor broke into spontaneous applause. Edward fell off his seat. Mars and Albus simply stared at the place where William presumably stood.

Suddenly Albus was being wrestled to the ground by an invisible opponent. Before he could work out where William's limbs were, Albus was lying on the ground unable to move.

'I have found Albus' weakness!' William whooped. He pulled the cloak off and grinned mightily at the other boys. The other three immediately insisted on having a turn under the cloak. Countless battles for physical supremacy soon followed, and much laughter went with it. But Albus had a strange sense that he was no longer the centre of attention, that the cloak, and William, were the flavour of the hour. Albus wondered why he cared, but somehow he felt gently offended that it was not he getting the attention. After all, had he not been the one to defeat a dark wizard just a few months ago and the one who had secured the House Championship for Gryffindor?

'So what happened to your great grandfather?' Albus asked, once energies had been exhausted and the boys were lying back in their seats, breathing heavily. 'Did he die in August like he was supposed to?'

'No,' William said, 'and he is really annoyed, too. He went to the Seer to complain, but the Seer had gone on "permanent leave" or something. He is not happy about it, but he can't get the cloak back because he has already given it to me.'

'That is so brilliant,' Alabastor said. 'Just think what we can do for Pirates pranks with that cloak!'

'Yes!' Mars and Edward erupted.

'I have already thought about that,' William said. Albus would have said that William's chest was puffing out as he began to expand on a dozen or so ideas he had come up with. Albus sat in the cabin feeling increasingly put out. He was angry with himself for wanting to deny William a much deserved moment in the sun, but was even angrier with himself for being so arrogant to presume that he should be the natural leader of the Pirates. Sure, he had founded the Pirates, but that was not enough to decree that he should be the leader at all times, was it?

The chatter of girls in the corridor announced the impending arrival of the other half of the Pirates; the five Gryffindor second year girls. William gave Albus a roguish wink and disappeared underneath the invisibility cloak.

'Hello boys!' cried Victoria, the first into the cabin. She was followed in turn by Maggie Weasley, Emily Jane Marchbanks with her curly blonde hair and grey eyes, brown-haired Elizabeth Figg and Annabel Bradshaw.

'Where is William?' asked Annabel, while the others exchanged greetings and found seats squeezed in between the boys.

Albus was on the verge of saying, 'he's somewhere in here, underneath an invisibility cloak', when Annabel suddenly started laughing and clutching her sides.

'Stop it!' she screeched. 'Stop tickling me! Who is that! It's a ghost! Someone help me!'

William whisked off the cloak and appeared in front of Annabel. She gave an even louder shriek and fainted.

'Oh, well done, William,' said Albus.

'How in the world did you manage that?' Emily asked. Victoria rushed down to Annabel's side, flapping her hands to air Annabel's face. William had gone pale and was unable to answer. It was no secret to the other Pirates that Annabel was William's favourite, and the sight of her fainting at one of his pranks shut him up pretty swiftly.

But in ten minutes Annabel had recovered and was listening as eagerly as the other girls while William expounded his plans for the Pirates that year. Albus rolled his eyes several times and took to staring out the compartment window, wishing for the Hogwarts castle to appear on the horizon. When it finally did, the sky had grown dark and William had finally stopped talking. The girls excused themselves back to their cabins to get into their school robes. The boys did the same, and by the time the train rolled to a stop, everyone's energy had returned and spirits were buoyant once more. Albus was glad to see the invisibility cloak put away and became slightly less irritated by William thereafter.

Instead of following the Keeper of Keys, Romulus Lupin, down to the lakeside, the new second years proceeded to the horseless carriages that would carry them up to the castle. Except that Edward did not take kindly to this new form of transportation.

'What are those things?' yelled Edward, covering his hands with his eyes. 'They are horrible!'

'What things?' William asked.

'Those dreadful horse creatures with wings!' cried Edward. 'I don't want to go on those carriages!' Edward turned and fled back to the Hogwarts Express, howling.

Albus stared at the space in front of the carriages. In the dark evening light he had not seen anything, but as he strained to focus, he could see winged horses standing in front of the carriages. The whites of their eyes looked positively terrifying, like the eyes of spirits floating in near darkness.

'I don't see anything,' William said.

'I do,' Albus said. 'Look in front of the carriages.'

William, Mars and Alabastor strained their eyes but eventually all three concluded that Albus and Edward must be sharing the same hallucination. That is, until the pale-eyed Professor Sinistra from the Astronomy Tower bore down on the boys. She was dragging Edward and his trunk along with her.

'There is one carriage left and if you are not on it, you will all miss the Sorting Feast,' Professor Sinistra snapped. 'There is no reason to be frightened of the thestrals. If you have seen death, you can see them, otherwise, not. Now get on the trains before I turn you into toads.'

The boys scampered onto the last carriage with their trunks and immediately the mysterious winged horses started galloping towards the gates of Hogwarts. Inside the cabin, the conversation turned to whom Edward and Albus had seen die.

'My little brother, of polio,' Edward said softly. 'He was four, and I was eight.'

Edward had to explain to the wizards what he meant by polio. All four were appalled that muggle healers were unable to solve a problem of such seeming simplicity. Eventually the others turned to Albus and he had to recollect the scene in Imhotep's Crypt when Imhotep had killed Professor Fudge and then raised him as an Inferi. William listened with such intent that by the time they clambered off in front of the front steps of Hogwarts castle, Albus was sorry that he had harboured resentment against William for owning an invisibility cloak.

At last the five boys joined the remainder of the school in the cavernous Great Hall, the ceiling of which displayed a magnificent pantheon of stars. They found their seats at the Gryffindor table with the other second years. Albus fielded greetings from a number of people as he walked to his seat, including Jenning Ranger and the other Ravenclaw second years.

Then it was time for the Sorting. Professor Leon Bones, the tawny haired and handsome teacher of Transfiguration, led the first years into the Great Hall. This prompted a round of chatter from the school, all due to the obvious conclusion that Professor Bones was the new Deputy Headmaster, now that Professor Fudge was dead. Professor Bones placed the aged hat of Godric Gryffindor on a seat, and stepped away to allow the hat to sing.

'The founders four gave me strength to see,

What every Hogwarts boy and girl might be,

And though I am old, tattered, worn and grey,

I can still achieve this hallowed task today.

It was Godric who was bold and brave,

In the face of danger he would never cave,

So if it is determination and courage you own,

Your place in Gryffindor will soon be known.

Crafty Salazar was a master of resourcefulness,

He was always first to win, last to second-guess,

So if you desire power, success and wealth,

Drink to the cup of Slytherin and its good health.

Gentle Helga was a friend and helper to all,

Always on hand whenever those in need did call,

So if you are of the inclination to be kind,

Let the principles of Hufflepuff be on your mind.

Brilliant Rowena had intelligent and nous,

Books and knowledge the foundation of her House,

So if you are gifted in mind and quick to learn,

Let Ravenclaw be the House for which you yearn.

The song is sung and the year will soon begin,

A year of champions and many a varied thing,

This old hat will sit and watch as time passes by,

For I always know which students will fly.'

There was a long pause at the end of the song before the school began to clap. It had been an unusual ending to the Sorting Hat song, and Albus almost felt cheated. It was as though the Hat ought to have sung another verse to wrap up the song, but apparently that was all it had to say.

'Silly hat must have run out of time to think up the song,' William joked. Albus sniggered with his friends, but his head continued to puzzle over the seemingly abrupt ending to the song while the Hat sorted the new first years.

Eventually the Sorting was complete, Professor Leon Bones removed the Hat and the chair, and Professor Prewett stepped up to the lectern to give her first address as new Headmistress of Hogwarts for the new year.

Professor Athene Prewett was an elderly witch with straight grey hair hanging down the back of her long black robes. She wore a monocle on her left eye, which gave her a very forbidding appearance. She looked every part the new Headmistress.

'Good evening, students of Hogwarts,' Professor Prewett said, gazing down at her attentive audience, 'and welcome to a new year. This marks a new age at Hogwarts, I hope. As your new Headmistress I intend to make some significant changes at this school. Most significantly, we have some major changes to the staff here. We lost our Caretaker, Wilfred Umbridge, over the summer holidays to resignation …'

The school erupted into a loud and strenuous cheer. Albus had his head rubbed vigorously by the other Pirates. It had been his idea to tell Peeves, the poltergeist that answered only to him and William, to badger the caretaker until he left the school for good. Obviously the poltergeist had been devilishly obedient.

'That is enough,' Professor Prewett said, silencing the school. A thin smile was in place on her lips. She had her own reasons for being glad of Umbridge's departure, not the least of which had been when the caretaker had hung the Gryffindor Seeker up by the ankles before a crucial Gryffindor-Slytherin Quidditch match last year. Professor Prewett cleared her throat and continued, 'The new caretaker is Odrick Olsen. Also new to our staff is Professor Januar Solstice, who joins us from Archaeon Dumbledore's digs in Egypt to take up the post of Defense Against the Dark Arts. Now, given that I have become the Headmistress, I will no longer have the time or inclination to teach Charms or be in charge of Gryffindor …' A barrage of complaints from the Gryffindor table interrupted her, and Professor Prewett had to call for silence twice before continuing, 'so we welcome to the staff Professor Ryan Rolleston, who will teach Charms and take charge of Gryffindor. Professor Leon Bones has been promoted to Deputy Headmaster, as you may have gathered.'

Albus wanted to search the staff table for this new Professor Rolleston, to appraise the new Gryffindor Housemaster, but the importance of what Professor Prewett started to say distracted him.

'The Triwizard Tournament will be held at Hogwarts this year,' Professor Prewett said. 'Our foreign guests will not be arriving for a few weeks, to allow us time to settle into class routines before the big event. But it will impact heavily on the school schedule, and I must stress that the changes that have happened at Hogwarts have nearly cost us the hosting rights. With one of our staff dead, and the Headmaster leaving in mysterious circumstances, the foreign schools will be paying very close attention to how Hogwarts hosts the Tournament. I cannot stress enough how seriously I will be viewing misdemeanors at this school in the coming months. Anyone who breaks the rules will face very serious consequences, and I am not joking.'

The ten Gryffindor second years stared at one another with pale faces and sombre eyes. Professor Prewett had clearly been serious when she had threatened to put an end to their Pirates pranks at the end of the last school year.

The Sorting Feast passed in a blur of discussion over the multiple changes that had happened to Hogwarts in the few months since they had been gone. A new Housemaster, new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, new Charms teacher, new Caretaker, an upcoming international schools tournament and the likelihood that they could not misbehave in any way that year were enough to keep the Gryffindors talking throughout the meal.

By the time Albus had got up to his bed in the second year boys' bedroom, up in Gryffindor Tower, his head was spinning and he simply wanted to sink into his blankets. He saw that the house-elves had brought up his belongings, including Fawkes' stand, and the beautiful phoenix was preening himself next to his bed. Albus stroked him goodnight before flinging on his pajamas and leaping into bed.

Albus was asleep before any of the other four boys had undressed. It had been a long day with far too much to take in. He receded into the peace of his dreams, safely tucked in inside his favourite castle.

Author's Note – Thank you to my reviewers: Godfric Potter, arkingd, Shadow101, SammyStar, BovinePimp, blade13hjp, Tabitha78, Griffinkhan, Silent Reader, skittlelove, Celi, Sean, birds of morrigan, rahul, mthukral, Ambrosius Emrys, The Allknowing Tonks and Zesuit. Keep it up, and thanks for all the tips and encouragement. But please note; don't try and foreshadow events too often in your reviews. While it may be nice to speculate whether or not Albus will be school Champion, you are sometimes so wrong in your suggestions that it is almost funny. Plus, I'm not the sort of writer to reveal my secrets just because a reviewer wants me to!