Albus Dumbledore and the Everlasting Flame

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

"Even in the deepest darkness the eyes seek out the light"

Chapter 6 – A Hogwarts' Welcome

A beam of warm August sunlight pealed through the gap in the curtains of the bed and struck Albus lightly on the cheek. His eyes fluttered for a moment and opened. He had been dreaming about a beam of light. It had warmed him, warmed him to the soul in the same way that a bowl of steaming melted chocolate could stir a boy's appetite. The beam of light had been calling to him. How it did so; Albus could not remember. It had been neither a voice nor a song, but more like an urging. It was hard to place, and the shock of waking up made Albus forget the dream within seconds.

'Oh no,' Albus said. 'Oh no.' He sat up in a blind panic, momentarily lost for bearings. He blinked away the sleep and then collapsed back against his pillow. His chest felt constricted as if a python were holding him down. The memory of last night had come flooding back and now he felt like performing a vanishing spell on himself.

Gryffindor had lost four hundred points last night on account of him, and he had been sentenced to a term of nightly detentions with Professor Rolleston; who surely thought Albus an idiot after he had admitted that the whole affair had been about revenge for a petty classroom embarrassment.

Albus took several minutes to summon the courage to open his bed-curtains. He discovered the other four second year boys sitting on the edges of their beds, looking as pale and mortified as he did. Edward looked woebegone. He appeared to have cried himself to sleep last night. Mars' green eyes were rheumy and he was ghostly pale. William was clutching the sheets of his bed so that the bones of his knuckles showed. Not once did he run his hands through his hair. Alabastor's head was in his hands, his fingers pulling at the blonde strands of his hair.

'We are doomed, aren't we Albus,' Mars managed to gasp.

'It was my fault,' Albus said. 'They'll kill me, not you.'

'Oh stop it,' Alabastor snapped, sitting up and turning his brown eyes on Albus. They were glowing like coals. 'It was very brave of you and all to take the blame for us last night in front of Professor Prewett, Bones and Rolleston, but you cannot suffer the burden of blame from the whole house as well. This was a Pirates prank. Not a Dumbledore prank; a Pirates prank. Accordingly, we shall all take the blame. Understood?'

It was the most forcible Alabastor had ever been. Usually leadership was a contest between William and Albus, but Alabastor Meadowes had long had a feisty streak about him. Albus sensed that Alabastor was past hiding behind Albus all the time and wanted to fight his own battles. He was strongly grateful for it; since he could not bear the prospect of being the sole pariah of Gryffindor House.

'Yes, understood,' Albus acquiesced simply. 'Last night I … I just couldn't let you get expelled.'

'I don't think Professor Prewett would ever have expelled ten Gryffindors in a night,' Alabastor said sharply. He looked Albus over and his tone mellowed. 'But thank you anyway, Albus.'

'Yes, thanks a galleon,' William said. His knuckles were no less white against his skin, but he seemed a little surer than when Albus had first looked at him this morning. 'What did Professor Prewett say to you after she sent us to bed?'

'She said … how disappointed she was,' Albus said, feeling his cheeks glow warm. 'She also made me have a term of detentions with Professor Rolleston.'

'Oh no,' exclaimed the other boys. Alabastor looked thunderstruck. 'I can't believe she would make you do that!'

Albus was too embarrassed to confess that Professor Rolleston had effectively proven that he did not have it in for Albus by saying that the detentions would be more like homework sessions. He did not want to admit that his act of vengeance had been completely misguided by his foolish pride.

'It is not the end of the world,' Albus said. 'Losing four hundred points for Gryffindor, however …'

'I think Professor Prewett is a hag,' Alabastor snarled, slamming his fist against the bedpost and then howling in pain. When he had composed himself, he grumbled, 'even Professor Whingeas never took that many points from us in one go.'

'I know; rotten, isn't she?' William said. 'It isn't like we did the prank right in front of the visiting schools and embarrassed Hogwarts forever now, did we?'

The boys started bickering about how unfair it was for Professor Prewett to have punished Gryffindor so badly for what, by the end of the conversation, had become a "pretty minor prank performed at a reasonable hour of the night with hardly any consequences of note".

They were interrupted by a loud and curt cough from the doorway. Standing framed in the entrance to the second year boys' bedroom was Thomas Jones. The sixth year House Quidditch Captain and family friend of the Dumbledores looked imposing. His shaggy blonde hair dangled over blue eyes that glittered with malice this morning.

'Negative three hundred and eighty,' he said, 'negative! Never in Hogwarts' history has a House had negative points. I would never have believed it in all my life that you were to blame for such a travesty Albus, if it weren't for the fact that every portrait in the entire school is currently talking about what you did last night.'

'What we did,' Alabastor said. He had tried to sound brave, but had managed only to released a piping squeak and gone a bright shade of beetle red.

'It is not something to be proud of,' Thomas snapped. 'The famous Pirates have gone and done it this time, done our House in for the whole Championship. There'll be no Quidditch this year, what with the Triwizard Tournament on, so there goes our chance of winning those points back. You "Pirates" have let Gryffindor sink to the bottom of the sea. I am disgusted by you.'

If Albus had been feeling any better thanks to the communion with his four friends, that feeling vanished with Thomas' words. He had always looked up to Thomas; and seeing the disappointment in Thomas' blue eyes made him feel dreadful.

'I … we …' Albus began, but he could not finish the sentence. He quailed under Thomas' dispassionate stare.

'I don't want to hear,' Thomas said. 'I'm only here to escort you to breakfast. The rest of the House will tear you to shreds if they get to you, so as a Prefect it is my responsibility to ensure that that doesn't happen.'

Mars and Edward turned moon eyes on Albus, but he was as terrified as they. The five boys slipped into their robes and followed Thomas down to the common room. As he had predicted, a clamour of students were barracking at the bottom of the stairwell. Thomas had to threaten to hex them with his wand to allow them to get through. Unfortunately for the boys, Thomas either was not good enough or, he did not have the inclination, to stop a few well-aimed hexes from hitting the mark. By the time they clambered out of the portrait hole; Mars had a fist-sized wart growing on his forehead, Edward had mouse-sized ears, Alabastor had a blood nose, William was dancing uncontrollably and Albus' whole body was itching. He had been hit by a Pruris universalis curse, a popular spell to make the target itch all over. The effects of the spell usually lasted for a day and were generally irreversible. Albus cursed his bad luck; he would be scratching himself like a monkey all day.

Thomas escorted them safely to the Great Hall, where he abandoned them. A mock cheer broke out on the Ravenclaw table as they walked past and the Hufflepuffs broke into applause; but it was the Slytherins who took the cake. They had somehow conjured banners praising the Pirates, and come up with a song.

'Hurray for the Gryffindor Pirates,

They made the old Prewey irate,

And Gryffindor went down the drain,

All their efforts will now be in vain,

So shout it out and make it loud,

Gryffie second years you do us proud,

You should be in Slytherin, oh yes,

Join Slytherin, we are the very best!'

By the time the boys reached the Gryffindor table the Hall resounded with laughter. They found the girls looking meek and small on the very end of the table and joined them. The other Gryffindors had put a gap of twenty seats between them and the second years. If that was not disgrace enough, even the new first years were throwing vituperations at the Pirates.

'It is the worst, isn't it?' Maggie said heavily. 'I had a tuft of hair pulled out by Juniper Gray, and Mary Livingstone set my robes on fire.'

The second years started sharing their stories of woe. Albus could barely listen to them; he was so busy scratching himself. That is, until an owl swooped down with an imperious red letter in its claws. The red letter fell into Albus' porridge bowl, but before he could make a move to pick it up, it tore itself open and started bellowing in Archaeon Dumbledore's most penetrative and commanding voice.

'Albus Dumbledore!' Archaeon's voice sounded across the Great Hall. 'When I gave you strict instructions to keep a low profile this year, I thought I was being quite clear. How is it, then, that you found the need to break a dozen school rules in one night, bring shame to your House and dishonour to your own family? I am disgusted by your behaviour and have nothing further to say to you.'

The letter burst into flame and vanished. A trickle of laughter ran across the Hall, but there was a general sense of disappointment that Albus had not got a more fervent telling-off. Albus was under no illusions, however. Archaeon's disappointment was more than evident. Albus wanted to melt into the floor, but first he had to deal with the itching that covered every square inch of his skin. And so he scratched, and scratched, and scratched for the rest of the day.

There was no doubt that this was the worst start to a day at Hogwarts in his time there, but Albus could not help but think that it was slightly better than the time when he had been estranged from the other Pirates. The wrath of Gryffindor might be upon them, the disdain of the whole school and his father's disappointment with Albus to boot, but at least he and his friends were in it together.

Or so Albus thought, until a few weeks went by. At first the Pirates stuck together like glue in response to the catcalls and taunts that followed them through the corridors, the icy rejection and nasty pranks from other Gryffindors and the obvious disapproval of their teachers. But it soon began to wear thin on their fragile confidence and their spirits began to flag. The pure-blooded girls, Victoria, Emily and Maggie started retreating to the library at every opportunity to hide their tear-streaked faces behind heavy tomes. Annabel, Elizabeth and Edward were more used to being excluded on the basis of their blood; and so, handled the constant pressure better. They were also at an advantage because none of the three stood out. They were able go about their business mostly unnoticed. As for Alabastor and William, they had too many quarrels with Albus for their liking. They eventually split off and spent their days slouching around the corridors and brooding in corners. Of the nine other Pirates, only Mars continued to keep Albus' company.

Albus was pleased to have Mars' friendship during the harrowing weeks after Professor Prewett punished them. He could spend hours in Mars' presence without having to say anything. Unfortunately for both of them, a large portion of Albus' evenings was spent in detention with Professor Rolleston. These were not unpleasant sessions; Professor Rolleston was usually nose-in-marking and left Albus to do his homework. But Albus felt lonely in the candle-lit Charms Master's office every evening. He longed for an end to the isolation of the second years. Slytherin might never grow tired of singing 'Hurray for the Gryffindor Pirates', and Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff might never stop slapping Albus on the back when he walked past; of that he did not care. He just wanted Gryffindors to stop looking at him like he was a poisonous asp or, worse, a Dark Lord. And something Albus longed for was to regain the approval of his brother Aberforth. Since the disastrous Pirate prank, Aberforth had kept his distance from Albus and made excuses whenever his little brother attempted to talk to him.

About three weeks into the term, around about the time Mars and Albus confided in one another that they both would rather have been expelled than suffer the daily humiliation; Professor Prewett made an announcement in the Great Hall before dinner.

'If I may have your attention please,' Professor Prewett called from the lectern. Knives and forks that had been raised in anticipation of food appearing on the House tables were slowly placed back down. 'As you are all aware, Hogwarts is hosting the Triwizard Tournament this year. Now it is my pleasure to announce that our esteemed guests will be arriving on Friday evening. In preparation for this important occasion, I invite our Caretaker, Mr. Odrick Olsen, to speak.'

The new Caretaker hobbled up to the lectern. Odrick Olsen wore a heavy grey coat over his knobbed back. He wore a long grey pony-tail and a dozen ear-rings. Rheumy red eyes peered out from under bushy grey eyebrows. When he spoke, his voice had a raspy quality.

'G'evenin' school,' Odrick said. 'We be havin' three days to be havin' the school smellin' of roses en shinin' likem mother o' pearls. Yer classes to be cancelled tomorrow en you be helping to clean high en low, do yem hear?'

There was an outpouring of vocal disapproval from the school. Professor Prewett swooped upon the lectern and transfigured in mid-air into a massive eagle owl. The handsome bird had feathers of every shade of golden-brown imaginable under the candlelight of the Great Hall. She let out a ferocious shriek that pierced the ears of everyone in the room. The impressive sight of the Headmistress perched on her lectern in the form of an eagle owl silenced the school in moments. Her yellow eyes peered around the room, shooting daggers at anyone who muttered so much as a murmur. When she was at last satisfied that she had everyone's attention again, she transfigured back into her human form.

'Mr. Olsen works extremely hard to maintain the high standards of cleanliness you enjoy at Hogwarts,' Professor Prewett said. 'Not to mention the house elves in residence. The least you can do in the light of the forthcoming arrival of our foreign guests is to play your part. Suits of armor need polishing. Portrait frames need dusting. Portraits need oiling. Glass needs washing. Corridor walls and floors need scrubbing, as do the toilets. Classrooms need tidying and Madam Cross needs assistance in the library to re-organize her catalogues. Mr Lupin needs help in the grounds. There is plenty to be done, and anyone complaining will find themselves doing twice their share of the work.'

A disgruntled silence enveloped the Great Hall. Odrick Olsen approached the lectern again.

'Slytherin'll be doin' the bottom three floors,' he said. 'Hufflepuff'll be doin' the top three floors. Ravenclaw'll be doing the library en the towers. Gryffindor'll be outside with Mr Lupin. En the lot of yem'll be cleanin' yer own houses.'

Professor Prewett summoned dinner, which appeared on the four House tables in an instant. The din in the Great Hall rose to its usual fervour as ladles scraped bowls, spoons tapped the edges of plates, jugs were set down and people exchanged general chatter over the fact that they had to clean the school tomorrow.

'It's not fair that we have to clean the school,' William was complaining to Alabastor. If there was one time of day when the second years were forced to sit together; it was dinner. Nobody else in Gryffindor wanted anything to do with them, and there was only so much space on a House table.

'I agree,' Alabastor growled. 'The ruddy house elves should do their job.'

'I expect they already do,' Emily sniped, with her characteristic Marchbank air. 'You just feel that it's beneath you to get your hands dirty.'

'Oh, that's rich,' Alabastor said, 'coming from a prim and proper pure blood like you.'

'You're pure blood too,' Emily said back, turning red about the ears, but the quarrel was not allowed to escalate. Professor Rolleston had seemingly materialized behind them. Albus would have sworn he had been at the staff table just an instant before.

'One would hope that in the light of how your House-mates are treating you,' Professor Rolleston said in his smooth voice; 'that the second years are not fighting amongst yourselves.'

'No sir,' Emily and Alabastor said.

'Good,' Professor Rolleston said. He was stroking the long grey beard in front of his chest. 'Now I take it that none of you know hard we Professors have been working to protect you chaps from the other Gryffindors these past weeks.'

This revelation was met with silence from the second years. Only Albus fully appreciated what this meant. He had been a little surprised that he and the others had endured little more than insults and the occasional harmless jinx, as opposed to some of the more brutal hexes that he had somehow expected.

'Needless to say,' Professor Rolleston continued, his black eyes lingering on Albus through his half-moon glasses, 'tomorrow is going to pose a problem with Gryffindor assisting Romulus Lupin in the grounds. You could easily fall victim to a well placed jinx or hex in the Forbidden Forest or somewhere else in the grounds. The solution is therefore very simple. Your job is to prepare the main entrance for our visitors. Mr Olsen will show you where to find the appropriate red carpet and Hogwarts banners; but I encourage you to use a little imagination and enhance the decorations somewhat. You Pirates have shown an aptitude for interesting spells in the past.'

'Excuse me Professor,' Albus said, just as Professor Rolleston made a move to walk away. 'Are you asking us to perform spells on the Entrance Hall, when Professor Prewett has strictly forbidden it from us?'

'No, as I recall,' Professor Rolleston said, 'she said you would be expelled if you broke any more school rules. Conjuring a wonderful welcome spectacular for out guests is quite the opposite. And,' here Professor Rolleston paused, looked around and made his voice louder so that other people on the Gryffindor table could hear him, 'should you do a good job of it, I will consider returning a large portion of the points that you lost the House.'

Professor Rolleston stalked away. His words did nothing but induce a fresh wave of hissing and derogatory comments from some of the other Gryffindors, but within a few minutes Thomas Jones had come wandering over to the second years with a look of passionate expectation.

'Listen, you lot,' Thomas said, 'whatever it is Professor Rolleston is prepared to give you points for, make sure you do it better than any Pirates prank you have ever come up with. We need these points.'

'Don't worry, Thomas,' Albus said firmly. 'We won't let you down this time.'

The other nine Pirates gave Albus quizzical looks. When Thomas had moved away again, William leaned in.

'What are you thinking of?' he asked.

'Why should we listen to Albus?' Alabastor intruded, before Albus could respond.

'Oh just shut up, Alabastor,' Victoria snarled, to Albus' great delight. 'Albus is the founder and leader of the Pirates, and the best wizard of all of us. Let him speak.'

Alabastor had the sense to look abashed, and Albus was free to talk.

'Alright, here is what I think we should do,' he said, his brain firing ideas like swiftly cast spells. It was refreshing to be thinking again after three weeks suppressing his natural tendencies. 'After school you all have to go to the library and research the best spells you can think of; flowers that bloom when people walk past, that sort of thing. I will use my time in Professor Rolleston's office to look through his most advanced Charms textbooks and see what I can come up with. We will meet up at eleven o'clock in the common room to put our ideas together, and then we will set everything up over the next three days.'

'Sounds like a plan,' Emily said. Everyone nodded in agreement, and for the first time in three weeks the second years felt like friends again, with a purpose in life beyond just surviving each day.

On Friday night the whole school gathered on the lawn in front of the Entrance Hall to await the arrival of their guests. The only suggestion that the second years had done anything was a red carpet leading from the grass up the stairs and through the great wooden doors. Professor Rolleston had given Albus one strange look but had otherwise said nothing to suggest that he was worried. He was too busy arranging Gryffindor into respectable rows and making sure that everyone was wearing their robes in the appropriate fashion. Every House had turned up looking their best, carrying banners, mascots enchanted to roar, hiss, scream or bark as was appropriate for the animal, and trying their very best to out-do the other Houses. Professors Prewett and Bones stood at the very front, shuffling their feet nervously and looking about in a random manner. It was as though both were looking for something to apparate out of thin air.

A hush drew over the school after someone called out, 'look; in the sky, above the mountains!' A dark black figure emerged out of the blue and grew steadily larger as it approached. It seemed to be moving and shifting and changing. Ripples crossed its surface as wind might run across a lake. It took Albus a full minute to realize that the dark black figure was actually thousands of bats. A minute later, and he realized that the bats were accompanying a group of witches and wizards on broomsticks. The closer they came, the more became apparent about them. They wore black robes, black boots and black witch hats. The girls among them had long, billowing blonde hair and the palest blue eyes. When they alighted on the lawn in front of Professors Prewett and Bones, Albus noticed that they were all pale, and all very tall.

'Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry is delighted to welcome the students of Moskva Academy,' Professor Prewett declared loudly, stepping forward to exchange a bear hug with the massive, shaggy Headmaster.

As if on cue, the first part of the Pirates' plan came into effect just as the Moskva Academy Headmaster stepped back. Peeves came hurtling through the air overhead, showering the guests with what looked like golden baubles. The curious Moskva Academy students started catching them. Every time they did so, the bauble would burst open and release something made of gold. Often it was a bird or a frog, but it would leap forth in a spray of gold and evaporate within minutes, leaving behind a trail of dazzling sparkles that hung around for moments. The Moskva Academy students were soon giggling and grinning at this wonderful gesture of welcome.

Before Professor Prewett could guide them up the red carpet to the Entrance Hall, however, the school noticed the appearance of a grey mist sweeping across the grass from the lake. The mist had sheen about it, as though light wanted to escape but was just caught in the act of departing it. Albus had to draw his robes around him. He shivered suddenly, uncontrollably, and felt his breath leave him. He looked around frantically, wondering if he was going mad. But his friends had gone deathly white and so had the rest of the school. Albus looked into the mist and saw that there were dark, robed figures swooping about in it. His lips mouthed the word Dementor, even though he could barely remember what it was.

'Expecto patronum!' called a voice from the mist. A bright light emerged from a wand. Albus watched, open-mouthed, as luminescent wolves started running around the mist chasing the Dementors and the mist away. It soon became clear that the mist had provided cover for the arrival of a group of students dressed in silver robes over red undergarments. These students were shorter than those of Moskva Academy, but were also predominantly blonde and blue eyes, with the exception of a few brown-haired boys with large noses. A man dressed in a very formal outfit that looked better suited for a muggle military parade than the Headmaster of a wizarding school, stepped forward to greet a shaken Professor Prewett.

'Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry welcomes,' Professor Prewett said, her voice displaying her discomfort at what had just transpired with the mist and the Dementors, 'ahem, would like to welcome students from the Black Forest School of Magical Arts.'

Once again, Peeves swept down from the sky and showered the new arrivals with golden baubles. The students of the Black Forest School of Magical Arts were generally less impressed by the enchanted trinkets than the Moskva Academy kids, but a few exchanged excited glances and smiles.

Professor Prewett led the two parties along the red carpet. Slytherin and Gryffindor were on either side of the carpet, and both Houses tried to impress upon the guests their importance. But the Pirates had already planned for this moment. A flock of larks burst forth from their midst and hovered above Gryffindor, singing a heavenly tune. And if that were not enough, Fawkes appeared in a flash of flame at the top of the steps and started singing the tune that sounded like the voices of a thousand Welsh singers sounded against the walls of a valley, rising and falling like the waves of a troubled ocean. There was no hiding the genuine surprise and amazement of the Black Forest students this time, for none had ever seen or heard a phoenix before in their lives.

But the Pirates were not done. Although they were standing outside and were unable to see their plan come to life, they could hear the cries of wonder as the guests passed through the great wooden doors into the Entrance Hall. Enchanted banners of Hogwarts and the four Houses were dancing in the air like ancient Celtic witches around a fire. Fireworks were swirling around the circular walls of the Entrance Hall and soaring up into the rafters. The portraits, as Albus had asked them to do, were giving the guests a standing ovation from inside their frames, and the suits of armour were all bowing down in welcome. It was all fairly simple magic made to look elaborate, but it was highly effective.

As Hogwarts entered the Great Hall for dinner with their new guests, Professor Prewett excused herself from the two Headmasters and made a beeline for Albus and the other Gryffindor second years. She spoke loudly, so that people from a number of Houses could hear her.

'I am prouder than I have ever been of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry,' she said, acting as though she was addressing everyone, but her eyes were focused on Albus and his friends. 'Those Pirates responsible for this extravaganza have the gratitude of our gracious guests. Two hundred and fifty points returned to Gryffindor.'

Albus turned and beamed at his friends, who beamed back. There was light in the darkness after all.

Author's Note – Please read and review! I know I disappointed a lot of you by taking so long to update, but don't forget that I am not a millionaire published author. I can only get better with your advice, and trust me; I value every single review that I get. I would love to get a negative review for a change so I can find something to work on!

Just out of interest, how many of you have read Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy? I read it this week for the first time and absolutely loved it! I think it is brilliantly written, inventive; imaginative and above all, flows with a lucid and exciting plot. The characters are also memorable. I do recommend it for any Potter fan.