To my lovely guest reviewer Canary: yes for the purposes of this story Camelot and Hogwarts are built on the same site. I guess the idea I was going for was that Hogwarts was built from the ruins of Camelot. Yes Hogwarts is supposedly in Scotland, but Camelot is a mythic castle, I'm not sure anyone knows exactly where in Britain it was. Basically: it's my story so I do what I like ;)
Chapter 20 Fifth Year: Plans
Breakfast the following morning was tense. Even the students from other houses, unaware of what had happened in the Gryffindor dorms last night, could feel it. Umbridge sat in her seat at the teachers table silently glaring across the student tables. Merlin was up late, his night's dance around the castle corridors apparently having taken more out of him than he had realised.
Merlin watched Umbridge out of the corner of his eye. Hagrid had long since given up trying to pull him into a conversation when it became clear that the sorcerer was more interested in watching the other professor. Umbridge's eyes were narrowed; Dumbledore had obviously spoken to her because her eyes kept going back to the Gryffindor table where Hermione sat alone, Harry and the Weasley's conspicuous by their absence.
Merlin hung around the staff table as long as he could without drawing too much attention to himself before he headed outside and down to join Hagrid. It wasn't until he was nearly at the Entrance Hall that he realised that Umbridge had followed him. "Hem hem." She coughed, making Merlin start with surprise. "Can I help you Professor?" Merlin put as much polite servitude into his voice as he could manage given his feelings towards the repugnant woman.
"Indeed Emrys, perhaps you can. As you know it has been my unfortunate duty to weed out those teachers who are...inadequate." She gave a simpering giggle that set Merlin's teeth on edge, but he kept his face blank. "Cornelieus, I mean of course the Minister has asked me to look into any other staff within the school."
"What's your point?" Merlin asked, his stomach had decided to take a short vacation in the soles of his boots. He had a very good idea of what she meant.
"I am simply informing you that I will be looking into your work within Hogwarts. It's for the student's own safety you understand, particularly given your unfortunate association with the ...Professor Hagrid." With a last simpering smile Umbridge toddled back towards the Great Hall.
Merlin watched her leave. "Bollocks." He immediately changed direction and headed up the stair case. He needed to talk to Dumbledore. Now.
When Merlin arrived in Dumbledore's office the Head master was pacing the room with his hands tucked behind his back. Merlin hovered in the doorway and waited. "Please Merlin come in, I'll be with you in just a moment."
Smiling, Merlin dropped into one of the armchairs and waited politely. Fawkes chirped softly and sailed over, folding his scarlet and gold wings with a rustle as he settled on the arm of Merlin's chair. Merlin petted the bird's back absently while he watched Dumbledore pace a few more times around the room before taking a seat behind his desk.
Dumbledore tilted his head to look over his half-moon glasses and smiled. "Fawkes seems to have taken a liking to you."
Merlin lowered his hand into his lap and nodded. "Magic attracts magic I suppose. I've never met a phoenix before." He admitted, though he very much wished he had. "Anyway I was going to come up here later and ask about Harry, but something changed my mind."
"Professor Umbridge." Dumbledore guessed sighing softly when Merlin nodded.
"She just spoke to me and made it very clear that I may experience some slight unemployment in the near future if I don't distance myself from Hagrid and I suppose you." Merlin ran his fingers through his hair. "She's getting more and more power and as far as I can tell you aren't doing anything to stop her. If she keeps going this way then Harry is going to be in more danger from inside Hogwarts than he will be from Voldemort." Merlin stopped himself firmly when he realised he had risen from his chair. Umbridge was really getting under his skin. Digging his fingernails into his palms Merlin forced himself to sit again.
Dumbledore grimaced and folded his hands on his desk then he glanced at Fawkes. "Would you please get Severus, I think it would be best if he were involved in this conversation." The phoenix cooed and vanished in a flash of flame that left Merlin's head ringing with magic.
"Snape? Why him."
"Severus has many a secret, and none of them are mine to divulge. Suffice to say that his intentions as far as Harry is concerned are good." At Merlin's sceptical look Dumbledore added, "though not overtly."
After a moment of contemplative silence Merlin decided to just plunge into the questioning, "How's Arthur Weasley?"
Dumbledore leant back into his chair and sighed. "He is recovering well by all accounts, though I doubt that would be so had it not been for Harry's rather timely vision."
"I don't know about you but I've had some really bad experience with future telling visions." Merlin admitted, his mind drawn back to Morgana for a moment
"However it was not the future that Potter saw." Merlin turned in his seat as Snape swept into the room. The Potion's master settled into the other armchair, apparently rather at ease in Dumbledore's office. "It was the present, an event as it happened."
"And seen through the eyes of Voldemort's snake, unless I'm much mistaken." Dumbledore added, "That fact I must admit is rather concerning."
"You mean reading minds? It's not unheard of, even around here." Merlin stretched out his legs and made himself comfortable. He was sure this conversation was going to take a while.
"Yes, it is possible; however it is a skill which only the most powerful and well trained wizards are capable of performing." A flick of Dumbledore's wand poured them each a cup of tea which floated amicably over to their respective owners. Merlin toyed with his cup until Snape spoke up.
"The Dark Lord is skilled in the art of Legitimency, however it is unlikely that he intentionally sent Potter the information he required to prevent Arthur Weasley's death."
Merlin frowned and sipped his tea. "So Harry pulled the information out of Voldemort's head, from a distance, in his sleep." He looked between the two wizards. "I don't think so. I couldn't do that on my best day."
"I'm certainly not suggesting it as the most likely cause; however Harry had previously demonstrated a remarkable sensitivity to Voldemort's presence. Perhaps now that Voldemort is once again in a physical body and the fact that he used Harry's blood in the ritual to revive himself has strengthened the link between their minds." Dumbledore offered, glancing at Merlin.
Merlin ran through what Harry had told him about the blood, bone and flesh ritual that he had been a part of at the end of last year. What Voldemort had done was old magic, but something about it had always bothered Merlin. A life for a life, that was the rule with all magic. You couldn't restore a life without sacrificing one in return. Though Voldemort hadn't truly been dead he hadn't really been alive either. Unless...
"Merlin?" Dumbledore's soft spoken query broke through Merlin's thoughts. "Is something wrong?'
Merlin looked up and realised that both Snape and Dumbledore were watching him carefully. He shook himself. "Sorry, I was just running through that ritual again. Something about it has been bothering me. The magic Voldemort used to give himself a body again, that was old magic."
"Very old." Dumbledore agreed, "Indeed I was hoping you would have some knowledge of how he did it."
Merlin nodded slowly, still adjusting his thoughts to his theory. This wasn't something he wanted to rush because if he was right then they had a bigger problem on their hands then they had originally thought. "I've never heard of that particular spell before, but I'm not sure that anyone can know everything about magic. There are a couple of ways to restore life, but the problem is that you always need to have another life to exchange for it."
"Cedric Diggory died that night." Snape spoke up. "Surely that is enough of a sacrifice."
Merlin shook his head. "If what Harry said is true then Cedric died before the spell was cast, it wouldn't count. The magic doesn't predict spells. It needs to take another life, and until it does the balance of life will be out."
"It's been months since the night at the graveyard, the Dark Lord has killed many since then." Snape folded his arms.
"Severus has a point, besides which I cannot see what this has to do with Harry's dream." Dumbledore folded his hands and looked at Merlin expectantly. Merlin smiled faintly, the old man knew he was coming to his point.
"Think about the ritual, bone of the father, flesh of the servant and blood of the enemy." Merlin looked between the two wizards, who both simple stared back at him blankly. "The father can't die, he's already dead. Flesh is all well and good, but blood... Blood is used for the most powerful spells. Blood is how I bound the protection spell to Harry the night his parents were killed. Blood that Harry and Voldemort now share."
"Potter is the one who is going to die." Snape murmured, casting a look of mingled horror and blame towards Dumbledore. The Headmaster frowned and continued to watch Merlin; he could feel the Headmasters eyes boring into the top of his skull. Merlin tried to ignore him as he ran the situation around and around in his head until he was dizzy. "Yes."
"Surely there is another way." Dumbledore said immediately. Merlin glanced up, both the wizards were watching him intensely, worry clear in their features.
"I don't know. Think about it, there is the prophecy that says 'neither can live while the other survives' and then..."Merlin tapered off as the situation hit him like a tonne of bricks.
"What?" Snape growled, smacking his palm firmly on the arm of his chair and breaking through Merlin's moment of horrified realisation.
"The spell. The one I did on the night Harry's parents were killed. The spell ties the protection given by his mother to her blood. The same blood that runs in Harry's veins." Merlin looked up at Dumbledore pleadingly. He silently begged the old man to prove him wrong, surely there had to be something else.
"The blood which even now runs through Voldemort." The Headmaster removed his glasses and set them carefully on the desk in front of him. "You think that the ritual Voldemort performed last year in the graveyard has somehow created a link between the two of them."
"Or strengthened one that was already there. You said that Harry has proven sensitive to Voldemort's presence in the past. Voldemort cast a powerful killing curse that night, one of them should have died, but neither did because of that spell I cast. The spell protects Harry, it now protects Voldemort from Harry. But the ritual means that one of them has to pay the price of Voldemort's return." Merlin looked up at the two wizards and sighed. "Sooner or later one of them has to die. The magic won't care which, but it has to be one of them."
Snape looked between Merlin and Dumbledore. "So we prepare Potter to face the worst. We arm him with everything we can and give him the best chance of coming out of a face to face battle with the Dark Lord."
Merlin smiled warmly at the Potions master. Perhaps Dumbledore was right and Snape did have Harry's best interest at heart. "Keeping people alive against all odds has been something of a specialty of mine in the past." Merlin had to swallow against an almost overwhelming wall of grief at the memory of a boat drifting through a fog covered lake. You never managed it when it really counted. Merlin shoved the thought down; he wouldn't fail Harry like he failed Arthur. He knew what he had to do now and he had two willing and eager allies to help him.
"Where do we begin?" Snape demanded, folding his arms across his chest and waiting.
"The dream, it suggests that the link between Voldemort and Harry lies within their minds." Dumbledore offered. "That somehow Harry is able to read Voldemort's mind." Merlin nodded his agreement.
"If what you think it true Merlin, then that ability could go either way." Snape mused. "If the Dark Lord learns that he can read Potter's mind, or worse can project thoughts into his mind without having to be near him then he could turn Potter into an incredibly dangerous and powerful weapon."
"So we disarm the weapon before Voldemort can use it." Merlin said calmly. He had some experience after all people had been obnoxiously projecting thoughts into Merlin's head since he had arrived in Camelot. "Sending thoughts and speaking between minds is an old skill. Sorcerers used to do it all the time to communicate without letting others know of their presence. We could also protect our minds from invasion, it was harder than sending thoughts, but if I remember rightly you've adapted that skill and made it more efficient." Merlin struggled to remember what modern wizards called something that had never even had a name as far as he was aware.
"Occulomency." Snape supplied. "However with the Dark Lord's skill in Ligitimency it is unlikely that Potter will be able to produce anything very effective."
"Alright, but with the right amount of focus and a bit of practice Harry may be able to at least learn to differentiate between real dreams and memories and fake visions." Merlin pointed out rubbing his palms together. "The only problem is that I'm not sure I can teach Harry. The basic skill is the same, but I've never taught it to anyone and my magic comes from a slightly different viewpoint."
"Severus will teach him." Dumbledore offered immediately, glancing quickly at the Potions Master.
Snape looked furious. "I see no reason for me to teach Potter anything. I have no desire to spend more time in his presence than I already do." He glanced at Merlin who wondered if he looked as confused as he felt. One moment Snape was all for helping Harry in any possible way, but it seemed that as soon as he was forced to actively help the boy he stopped dead in his tracks. "Merlin can teach him just as well if not better."
"For the sake of simplicity and keeping in mind that Umbridge has decided that she is going to investigate me and get rid of Dumbledore you are our best choice." Merlin nudged gently. "If you say that Harry is taking extra potions classes to improve his OWL grade then Umbridge will let it slide. It's pretty well known around the school that Harry is rubbish at potions."
"It is also well known that Potter and I do not get along." Snape snapped jerking to his feet and pacing across the room to the window.
"Harry doesn't have to enjoy the lessons Severus, he simply has to learn." Dumbledore settled his glasses back on the bridge of his nose and folded his hands in his lap. "Merlin is right, you are our best option to ensure that Harry is capable of defending his mind against Voldemort's intrusions while maintaining secrecy from Delores."
Snape's shoulders tightened and Merlin prepared himself for a fight. Then unexpectedly Snape's shoulders relaxed. "Very well." Then he stalked from the room.
"I'll write to Harry." Merlin said getting slowly to his feet, his eyes still on the door which had swung closed after Snape. "Let him know what's going on."
"Be sure that the letter does not fall into Delores's hands." Dumbledore warned. "The last thing we need is for her to become suspicious of Severus as well."
"Don't worry, I've a few tricks up my sleeves." Merlin smiled and waved. "I'd best be going before Hagrid gives me an earful for being late." Dumbledore chuckled as Merlin hurried out of the door. Just as he was about to leave Merlin turned to look back at Dumbledore. "Something still needs to be done about Umbridge."
Dumbledore pressed his fingertips together. "Yes and I swear that I am doing something. It may take a little longer, but I promise she will be dealt with."
Merlin held the Headmasters eyes for a moment longer before nodding and letting the door close behind him.
As Merlin jogged down the stairs and hurried off towards the ground he made himself a mental note to add to the end of his letter to Harry. He couldn't imagine, after the reactions he'd seen, that Snape was going to make Harry's lessons pleasant. Harry would need to know that there were other alternatives available. Merlin wasn't sure if he would be able to teach Harry to shield his mind, but if Snape wasn't able to get through to the boy-wizard then Merlin would have to step in. This was simply too important to let a strange baseless rivalry get in their way.
Holy cow you have no idea how long this chapter took me to write. After taking so long off for my exams it was amazingly difficult to get back into the characters and the storyline. I'm so glad I have the next few chapters planned out or you may be waiting a very long time for another instalment.