Albus Dumbledore and the Everlasting Flame

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

"The difference between a day and a hundred is only time"

Chapter 19 – Albus Dreaming

Albus had barely fallen asleep when a brilliant white glow filled his vision. It was the same dream that he had been having all year, but this time was different. This time, Albus was able to see more than just a light. There was something else behind the light, but it was swathed in darkness. Albus strained his eyes to see, but the shape was dull and murky. He was almost ready to believe that it was a piece of metal, when he heard a loud voice breaking through the silence of his dream.

'Albus; wake up,' said a familiar voice, 'Albus, get up!'

Albus opened his eyes. It took him several blinks to identify the auburn bearded figure of Archaeon standing over his bed. Archaeon had his wand illuminated over Albus' face. It was the second time this had happened, that Archaeon had a lit wand over Albus' face while he dreamed of a light. Albus shook his head. Was he really dreaming about the Everlasting Flame, or was it simply the light from Archaeon's wand?

'Father,' Albus mumbled, swallowing away his dry throat. 'Why are you here?'

'The same reason you sent Fawkes to me,' Archaeon said. 'Come on, we are to meet with Professor Prewett in her office.'

Albus stumbled out of bed and dressed in the robe he'd cast on the floor after his midnight excursion with Thomas. The reason why he had sent Fawkes to Archaeon came flooding back, and a sick feeling returned to Albus' stomach. He had faced down an Avada Kedavra tonight, and the memory of that green flash of light coming towards him sent chills down his spine. Even the warmth emanating from Archaeon was not enough to heat the ice in Albus' soul that dark night.

Albus found Professor Prewett's office busier than he had expected once he and Archaeon had ascended the spiral staircase. Professor Prewett was in a nightgown, her grey hair trailing down her back rather haphazardly, clearly having just woken up herself. She was striding the length of her room, looking worried. Professor Rolleston was in a crimson gown with a golden edge, sitting rather comfortably on a couch, but looking equally concerned. His dark eyes shot straight at Albus, not leaving him thereafter. The third person in Professor Prewett's office was Professor Januar Solstice. The dark-skinned man was wearing his typical white robe, but he looked bleary eyed. Albus figured it must be at least three in the morning.

'Sit down, Albus,' Archaeon said, pushing him into a chair. He took a seat on the sofa opposite, and Professor Prewett joined them on a hard wooden seat. The other three adults turned their attentions first to Archaeon. The great wizard spoke in very low tones, as though worried that one of the portraits on the wall might be eavesdropping. He said, 'Albus sent Fawkes to me about half an hour ago, reporting that he had gone for a midnight meeting with Thomas Jones at the gates of Hogwarts, where both were attacked and endured the Avada Kedavra from Jannes Grundelwald.'

'What?' the three Professors cried simultaneously. Professor Prewett looked ready to faint. Professor Rolleston exclaimed, 'no Archaeon; that is surely not true! Albus, are you convinced you are speaking the truth and nothing but?'

'Ryan,' said Archaeon in a calm but commanding voice, 'you are welcome to make use of Veritaserum, but it will not be necessary. I believe Albus.'

'Grundelwald used the Avada Kedavra?' said Professor Prewett. 'Did he … did he miss? How then is Albus alive to speak of it?'

'As I have already informed you, Athene,' Archaeon said, 'my son has protective devices in his possession, and he clearly had the foresight to give Thomas the use of one of them. Grundelwald's Avada Kedavra would have had no effect on them. It is fortunate he did not recast the spells, because the protection is only temporary.'

'Do you mean I could have died if he had done it again?' cried Albus.

'Most probably,' Archaeon said, as though he were discussing tea and biscuits. 'I did give you two protective devices, so you could have survived the spell twice, but you chose to give one to Thomas. Highly commendable, but it could have backfired.'

'Why didn't you tell me any of this?' said Albus softly. Either Archaeon did not hear him, or chose not to respond, because he continued to address the other adults.

'How did Albus get out of the building without the portraits noticing?' Professor Solstice said in his quiet way. 'Surely not all of them were asleep?'

'Yes, that is a worthy question,' Archaeon said, turning to Albus. 'How did you get out of the castle without being seen?'

'I … I borrowed … a friend's invisibility cloak,' Albus said, determined not to reveal William's secret after he'd not even had the decency to ask him to use it.

'Someone in Gryffindor has an invisibility cloak?' cried Professor Prewett, her eye looking twice as large as it ought to in her monocle.

'Leave the issue, Athene,' Professor Rolleston said, a perceptive gaze fixed on Albus through his half-moon glasses. I do not think the boy wishes to break his friend's trust.

'Very well,' Professor Prewett said, sniffing irritably. 'But what in Merlin's name were you doing visiting Thomas Jones at midnight outside the protective walls of Hogwarts?'

'I … I have been helping him with the Tasks,' Albus said. 'I have an Orb of Duality, no, I had one. Grundelwald stole it from me, and now he is going to use it to win the Tournament and take the Everlasting Flame! Father, how could you put the Everlasting Flame up for capture in a Tournament, when you know bad people are after it?'

'Hush up, Albus,' Archaeon said loudly, 'you do not know what you are talking about. I trust my own judgement, thank you very kindly. What I am concerned about, Athene, is the danger Grundelwald poses to his fellow competitors. I assume he took Thomas' Guide?'

'No, he hasn't,' Albus said, letting the relief show on his face. 'He was about to take it off him when I arrived, and when I did not die from the Avada Kedavra, Grundelwald left.'

'Good,' Archaeon said, 'then Thomas can continue with the Third Task. But he is in grave danger, and Volkova too, if Grundelwald is willing to murder for the sake of victory. In the light of this, we must arrange some plan to protect the boy.'

'I have sent Fawkes after him,' Albus said. 'I told Fawkes to keep watch over him.'

'Albus,' Archaeon said chidingly, but there was a hint of pride in his voice, 'how many of your protections are you going to surrender in the name of other people?'

'What do you mean, father?' said Albus, his brow furled with worry. 'I only meant to help Thomas.'

'You did the right thing,' Archaeon ceded, 'however, every so often in this life one must look out for one's own protection. Never mind, Fawkes has it within him to watch over the both of you. Now; Athene, Januar, Ryan, what are we to do?'

'I would have Grundelwald expelled from the Tournament and the country,' Professor Prewett snarled.

'That has already been ruled out by the Minister,' Archaeon said. 'Besides, he has a Guide already, and I would not be Archaeon Dumbledore if Admiral Scholtz has not already replicated the Guide and employed several other wizards in the pursuit of the Everlasting Flame.'

'Father!' cried Albus, almost bursting with frustration. The more they spoke of it, the less sense it made that Archaeon had made the precious Everlasting Flame available to evil wizards. It was almost as though Archaeon was inviting them to take it. Albus said, 'I still fail to see how you could put the Everlasting Flame in a place where it could easily be stolen by dark wizards! I thought you sought to keep powerful magical objects away from dark wizards, not hand it to them on a platter!'

'Albus, for the second time, you do not know what you are talking about,' Archaeon said, growing visibly irritated. Albus actually shivered, for rarely did one ever see a frown on the great man's normally placid face. Archaeon said, 'I assure you, the Everlasting Flame is not on a platter, nor will it be easily stolen. I have made it the target of the Triwizard Tournament, but I have made sure it will not readily be stolen. You will understand at a later time. Now, I think you had better be returning to bed. You are tired and, understandably, grumpy after what you have been through. Professors, have you any further questions of my son?'

The Professors shook their heads. Professor Rolleston offered to escort Albus back to Gryffindor, seeing as the Portraits had not been watchful enough already that night. On the way back, he put a reassuring hand on Albus' shoulder.

'Your father is being very coy for a good reason, Albus,' Professor Rolleston said. 'He knows that you are helping Thomas, and he can hardly go telling you where the Everlasting Flame is and how it is protected now, can he? Thomas has to win this for himself … with a little help from his friends.'

Feeling a little better, Albus posed a question of the bearded Housemaster.

'Is it true, sir, that you have been helping Thomas as well?' Albus asked.

'It is,' Professor Rolleston whispered. 'Only a tad, I might add, but I thought that the other two were getting far too much help from their Headmasters and it was only fair that Thomas had a leg up. After all, he is Hogwarts' great hope, isn't he?'

'Er, Professor,' Albus said timidly, hoping to ask a question he had been dying to hear the answer to all year, 'you said the Goblet of Fire was certain to choose me. Then, why did it choose Thomas?'

Professor Rolleston stopped in the middle of the dark corridor, his luminous wand lighting up his face and making his glasses shimmer like crescent moons reflected on water. He considered Albus for a minute, making up his mind whether or not to tell him the answer.

'The Goblet of Fire did not choose you, Albus,' Professor Rolleston said, 'because I jinxed it not to. Your father expressly did not want you entering the Triwizard Tournament, and even after I encouraged you not to enter, you did. So I had to prevent the Goblet from picking you.'

'But why?' asked Albus, his voice cracking ever so slightly with emotion. 'Does my father think me too weak to enter? Am I not good enough?'

'Neither of those things,' Professor Rolleston said, patting Albus on the head. 'Your father knows how good you are. However, surely; after seeing Grundelwald try to murder you and Thomas, you understand why your father did not want you entering? As it is, you are more involved than any of us had anticipated. You have a habit of sticking your crooked nose into everything.'

Albus grinned sheepishly. Professor Rolleston was right. He accepted the explanation and gladly hurried off to bed. It had been another exhausting day and Albus had barely the energy to face another day. He needed whatever sleep he could muster.

Albus felt strangely separate from his classmates and friends in the weeks that followed. It was not that they knew much less than he did about the things that had happened than he had. After all, the Hogwarts portraits ensured that everyone knew about Grundelwald's attempt to murder Thomas Jones before lunch the day after it happened. This time Albus name was not mentioned, perhaps the result of a direct instruction from Archaeon to leave him out of the story. Whatever the reason, Albus was glad. He wanted to be inconspicuous for a while, to not feel like a hundred eyes were upon him at all times.

Albus had worries beyond those of a normal Hogwarts student. While most people would mention the Triwizard Tournament once every few days with a remark like, 'I wonder how Thomas is doing', or 'I wonder where in the world the Champions are at this time', Albus had a near-constant butterfly fluttering in his stomach. It was not only that he worried for Thomas' life, but also that he feared the consequences if Grundelwald, Admiral Scholtz or someone else got hold of the Everlasting Flame. He had a nasty recurring vision (one that often appeared in his head in the hazy fumes of the Potions classroom), whereby Phineas Nigellus had the Everlasting Flame and came up to him and Archaeon and murdered them both, being protected from Archaeon's spells by the Flame.

Moreover, Albus kept a constant lookout for Thomas Jones. He would spend hours in the library after school, paging his way through every book not in the Restricted Section that he could lay his hands on, determined to find something that would help Thomas. At nights, he would lie awake for hours, tossing and turning. He was waiting for Thomas to come back to him, almost certain that the Champion would seek his counsel. Of course there were the voices in Albus' head that said, 'he is a sixth year, why would he need your help?' and 'you do not have the Orb anymore, you are no use to him.' But the proud side of Albus was convinced that Thomas would, for hadn't Thomas said that Albus knew 'more about Egyptian magic than anyone else at this school'?

In a lesser student, the constant worry would have crippled their schoolwork. But Albus found solace in the classroom, where he could concentrate on performing perfect spells, concocting excellent draughts, performing immaculate transfigurations and keeping his Bawling Begonias in their preferred state of weeping constantly. It was outside the classroom that Albus changed. He rarely spoke when in the company of the other Gryffindor second years. Where Albus had previously been the undisputed leader and usual centre of attention, that hole was now filled by Alabastor and William's bickering or Emily's loud and authoritative voice. The Pirates drifted apart as they had done before, separating into smaller groups. William, Alabastor, Emily and Maggie were the loud, constantly cheerful gang among the second years. Edward, Annabel and Elizabeth were the quiet trio that went about their business without fuss. And Mars and Victoria were left to be the uneasy companions of Albus.

But hard as Mars tried to bring up topics like whether the Caerphilly Catapults would win their semi-final match-up against his beloved Haversfield Hawks, a topic he had been sure Albus would respond to, or how hard Victoria tried to get Albus talking to her, about anything, nothing seemed to work. It seemed that ever since Grundelwald had tried to kill him, Albus had been like a shell within himself. Sometimes Victoria and Mars would sit with Jenning Ranger and the other Ravenclaws, or Davey Jones and the other Hufflepuffs, depending what class they were in; just to have something to talk about with someone. Albus would merely sit by himself, complete his class-work to perfection and then sit staring at the window. This carried on for months, as the Third Task counted down more than two-thirds of its hundred days and still Albus heard nothing of Thomas Jones.

It was not that Albus felt ill, or tired, or different. It was not even the daily task of having to deal with his fear for the Everlasting Flame and for Thomas. Albus was having increasingly complicated dreams involving the Everlasting Flame, and he spent several hours a day daydreaming, trying to repeat the dreams of the night in the day. But a night dream is totally different from a daydream, and cannot be replicated. Albus could only access his recurring dream when he drifted off to sleep at two in the morning, after hours of tossing and turning. And each time he had the dream, he got closer to unraveling the mystery of it…

Albus was standing in a dark room. He could not see anything around him, only the glow of a light in front of him. It was a sheer white, so bright that the eyes watered. Albus looked around him, hoping that the light would shed some light on where he was. Yet, hard as his eyes tried, he could not see the dim shapes around the room. It was as though the brilliant light was there, but was notthere at the same time. As usual Albus found himself without his wand in this room, as though he kept forgetting to bring it here. So he could not bring light to the room. He tried uttering 'Lumos', using wand-less magic, but in his dreams he could not achieve what he had done before.

Albus stepped towards the brilliant white light. He wanted to explore it more. Every time he had the dream, he came up to the light and was nearly blinded by it. In recent dreams he had started feeling things associated with the light. He felt … comfort … and warmth … and hope … and a sense that everything was well with the world. He knew that this was the Everlasting Flame, but where in the world was it?

Albus was having the dream for what felt like the hundredth time when he saw something out of the corner of his eye. The brilliant sheen of the flame appeared to be inside a fan-like arrangement of something, but this was not what caught Albus' eye. There was something in the corner of the room … a box … a crate of some sort … it was open … and there were things inside it.

Albus ran (if it is possible to run in a dream) to the box. He rammed his hand into it, and grabbed whatever his hand could wrap itself around. To his delight he felt something familiar. It was a rock encased in some kind of decorative casing. It had a very distinct shape; a circle with a cross underneath it.

Albus was holding onto an ankh, like the sapphire one he had taken from the Temple of Ast at the start of the year.

The Everlasting Flame was in the Temple of Ast! The Orb of Duality had been telling the truth when Thomas had asked it where the Flame was!

'Albus,' said a voice. 'Wake up, Albus.'

'No,' Albus murmured. No, now that he had figured out where the Flame was, he wanted to explore more. He had come so far, he needed to know more. How was it hidden in that room?

'Albus; wake up at once,' said the voice. Albus' eyes shot open and caught sight of Archaeon Dumbledore. His father was sitting on the edge of his bed. Albus had not seen his father for three months. A long time had passed since Grundelwald's attack.

'Has the Task ended?' Albus asked. 'Has Grundelwald got the Everlasting Flame?'

'No, settle down, son,' Archaeon said, putting an arm around Albus. 'You are just in a state of confusion. You are still half-asleep. I have come for another reason. It is half an hour before sunrise. You have half an hour to prepare for a journey.'

'A journey?' said Albus. 'Wherever am I going?'

'The time has come,' Archaeon said, 'for Thomas Jones to receive the help that he was promised for being the leader in the Triwizard Tournament. There are ten days left until the Third Task is over, and Thomas is … is in need of assistance.'

'You are sending me?' Albus exclaimed. 'What good will I be? Surely, as first place in the Tournament thus far, Thomas deserves better help?'

'As I understand it,' Archaeon said; a hint of a smile at the corners of his lips, 'you have been reading every text on Egyptian and other ancient magic that Hogwarts possesses. You also possess abilities beyond most students your age, and a number of other … shall we say, attributes … which Thomas will find useful.'

'Oh, of course,' Albus said, thinking that he had clued on to his father's line of thinking. 'I know where the Everlasting Flame is.'

'Oh, do you now?' Archaeon said. He had a curious smile on his weathered face, indiscernible to Albus, but one which indicated a sense of amusement towards his son's conviction. He patted Albus on the arm and said, 'nevertheless you will be useful to Thomas, and as I said some months ago, your role in this would become clear. Now is the time. Fawkes will be along at sunrise to take you to the Pyramids at Giza. You will find Thomas lost within one of the Pyramids. It is your Task to help him get out, and to help him find his way to where the Everlasting Flame might be. Thereafter, I expect, a lot will happen that none of us could possibly predict.'

'What of Grundelwald?' cried Albus, 'and Admiral Scholtz? What if they attack me?'

'This time, my son,' Archaeon said firmly, 'you will be better protected than ever before. You have no idea how well you are already protected, as it is. Now, I must go, for I have much to do. Fawkes will be along, and you need to be ready. Take whatever you feel will help you.'

Archaeon gave Albus a hug and strode towards the door. He had just about passed through the door frame when he turned and said, 'and Albus?'

'Yes, father?'

'Do not forget your wand.'

Albus was wide awake, more alert than he had been in months. He clambered out of bed and dressed into his robes. He made sure that his sapphire ankh was concealed in his left pocket, and that his willow wand was safely tucked away in his right-hand pocket. He rummaged about in his crate, now returned to having possessions after Lubo had sent robes, texts and whatnot to replace what Grindelwald had destroyed. Albus found little that would be of use, except for a Star Pointer she had bought for him as a consolation present. Albus was just about ready to leave when Mars hopped out of his bed, directly in Albus' path.

'You are not going to Egypt without me,' Mars said. 'I came with you in the summer, and I went to the Gateway of Shadows with you the Christmas before last. I wish to accompany you once more.'

'This is too dangerous,' Albus said.

'It did not sound dangerous to me, from the words your father spoke,' Mars said. 'Come now, I have been the one friend to stand by you these last three months, when you have really been a right prat.'

'That is no way to convince me to let you come,' Albus said, but the hollow sensation in his stomach told him that Mars spoke the truth. He knew that he had drifted away from the Pirates these last few months. After all, sitting in class next to Swarbrick Snape more times than not was hardly fun. But Albus had been so distracted! Nevertheless he felt guilty, and relented. 'Very well, come, but only you. Do not wake up the other boys. I want neither William nor Alabastor endangering us by coming along.'

Albus waited while Mars readied himself, and then the pair made their way down to the Gryffindor common room to await Fawkes. They did not want to spend any longer in the dormitory, in case their movements woke the other boys.

To Albus' dismay, Victoria had made an early morning excursion to the bathroom, best accessed through the common room. She stopped dead when she saw Mars and Albus, dressed and looking ready to go somewhere.

'Where are you going?' she asked.

'Nowhere,' Albus lied, badly.

'Egypt,' said Mars simply.

'I am coming with, then,' Victoria said.

'No,' Albus said, glaring sideways at Mars. 'I will not have you putting yourself in danger. Africa is a vile place of dark magic, and we will be facing dangers like Grundelwald and worse.'

'I have been to Africa,' Victoria said defiantly, 'and I even learned some voodoo magic, lest you forget! Mars, talk sense into him, he has been without sense for so long.'

Albus sensed that Victoria was going to use the same argument on him that Mars had. His shoulders slumped in defeat. There was nothing he could do. After all, Victoria had been remarkably tolerant of his strangeness over the past three months. She, like Mars, deserved some light at the end of that dark tunnel. He could not deny that their excursion to Egypt promised to be a very exciting journey.

'Very well,' Albus said. 'But you had better make haste. Fawkes will be here in a few minutes, and I do not wish to delay.'

Victoria shot past and was back quicker than you could brew a simple potion, dressed and clinging to her wand and a small bag that looked suspiciously like it contained ingredients for voodoo charms.

Fawkes appeared just as the light of dawn reared its head behind the Forbidden Forest through the window. He held out his tail for the three intrepid adventurers to take hold of.

'Are we all ready?' said Albus.

'Yes!' was Mars and Victoria's ecstatic reply.

'Well, here goes,' Albus said.

With a flash of flame Fawkes and his three passengers vanished.

Author's Note – apart from thanking my reviewers, I have very little to say in my Author's Notes anymore. I am letting my story do the talking. Adios 'til next time.