Chapter 24: The Talk

Harry lay on his back and stared up at the trees much like he'd done at the Dursleys as he waited for Albus to come back. He felt as if he should go back to Flamel for a while, but he didn't like apparating much. Staring up at the tree canopies just outside of the meadow and thinking about Ginny and Ron and Hermione was much nicer than the the work Flamel would put him through; sweeping the floors, putting his potions in order. He was getting paid for all of that since he left Hogwarts so he could have food and clothing, but still, he'd rather be alone with his thoughts.

The sun was just starting to set when Albus showed up, carrying something in a cloth.

Albus handed it to Harry and he found it was a rather large piece of bread.

"Bribing me with food?" Harry asked as he tore off a piece.

"In all possibility, yes," he said, sitting down next to Harry.

Harry tried not to smile. "Thank you."

Albus didn't speak until Harry finished eating. He waited patiently for him, but realized he wasn't going to. "Are you going to ask me questions?"

Albus smiled kindly, his eyes twinkling. "What were your O.W.L. scores?"

Of course he would ask that first. "I got 7 O.W.L's. My only Outstanding was in Defense."

Albus nodded slowly. Harry wondered what he was thinking, but felt slightly put out when he noticed Albus frowned slightly as if he'd expected Harry to do better.

"When's your birthday?" Albus asked next.

"Er," he thought about that for a moment, wondering if he should tell him. But, then, deciding that maybe he wouldn't remember or Flamel would erase his memories, he said, "July 31st."

"Really?" Albus asked, surprised. "That's just a couple weeks away."

"I know," he said softly. "When's yours? I never knew."

"August 3rd, 1881," he said. "Yours is… 1980, correct?"

He confirmed that with a nod. "I reckon it'll be odd when I get home again. I'll be 19, but I'm supposed to be 18."

"I wonder if your friends will notice you're a year older," Albus said.

"My friend Hermione will notice something," Harry said. "I mean, I'm going to tell them what happened to me. Hermione will say that it's impossible to travel a hundred years in the past. Ron will think it's brilliant and mental at the same time. My girlfriend, Ginny, I think she'll think it was good for me to see you."

"Why me?"

Harry couldn't tell him. That would be too much to tell. He shook his head.

"How are we so close?" Albus said, leaning forward a bit. "We're a 99 years apart, Harry. What made us so close? We're not… related are we? I'm not your, er, grandfather, am I?"

Harry raised his eyebrows. "No, we're not related. At least, I don't think we are. I don't think you ever had children… or a wife."

Albus nodded again, seeming relieved by that. He sat in silence for a few moments, then looked up at Harry.

"You've been through death, haven't you, Harry?" Albus asked. "Who has died in your life?"

"Lots of people," Harry said, looking down at his hands. "My parents, godfather, teachers, friends." He paused for a moment, remembering the few months after the war ended, how hard those months had been to get through even over his victory. In some ways, it was nice to be somewhere else, where they weren't even born yet, where there was still possibility.

"Look, Albus," he said, pulling at the grass like Albus had before. "I know you've just lost your mum and I know you're lonely, and sad that you have to take care of your brother and sister. But, just… for me, please don't think you're stuck, because you're not."

Albus frowned slightly. His eyes seemed to become watery, which made Harry uncomfortable, but he didn't cry. He pushed his hair over his shoulder and waved his hand over the grass again, where the pieces that Harry pulled out were. They reattached instantly.

"You're not lying," Albus said plainly.

"No. See?" he lifted his right hand and showed him the scar still on his hand. I must not tell lies.

Albus hesitantly reached out to hold his hand. Harry left him. His grip was stronger than he thought it would be.

"This was made by the blood quill," Albus said, running his thumb over the markings. "Why in Merlin's name would you use that?"

"Detention with a horrible woman," he said, pulling his hand away. "It's a very long story."

"I feel my older counterpart would either think the story's brilliant or disgusting. I don't know which."

Harry smiled. "I think, in a way, both. More disgusting, though. You'll live through it eventually. You'll see."

Albus sighed. "In about 95 years." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a cloth bag. It didn't take long for Harry to find out that he had jelly beans in it. "Want some?"

"I thought you didn't like Bertie Botts?" Harry asked, reaching into the bag for some.

"I don't. I got a vomit one once and I couldn't eat candy for days. These are the Muggle kind. Personally, I do like Muggle candy more. The general store sells it."

Harry smiled. "Ever tried sherbet lemons?"

"Oh, Merlin, yes. I love those," he said, reaching into the bag for more jelly beans. "They're my favorites."

"I thought so," Harry said. "Why do you like them so much?"

Albus shrugged, taking just a couple more before putting the bag back into his pocket of his trousers again. Harry thought it was quite strange seeing Albus in trousers, a white long sleeved shirt and a vest. He was so used to seeing Albus in robes, but he guessed the Muggles in the village would think it strange to see his normal school robes. Apparently Albus did have some other sense of fashion that didn't involved purple suits or magnificent midnight blue robes. He did in fact seem to know how to dress in clothes from the turn of the century.

"My father always got them for Ariana before the accident," Albus said, sadly. "After he'd gone to Azkaban, Ariana always asked for them. She never ate them, just gave them to me."

Harry couldn't help but think of Neville's mother doing the same, giving him candy wrappers. He looked down at the grass, but this time spotted a rock and took his wand out to levitate it. Albus smiled and reached for his wand in his belt, too. He tapped it and the rock turned into a small phoenix charm.

Harry grabbed it out of the air and held the rock in the palm of his hand. It looked exactly like Fawkes.

Then, Albus leaned against the tree and started humming. Harry listened, wondering where he'd heard the song before. He couldn't place it, although listening to it made him more relaxed.

Then, Albus started singing out loud.

"The birds around me hopped and played: their thought I cannot measure, but the least motion which they made, it seemed a thrill of pleasure." He began humming again as Harry pulled his mokeskin pouch from around his neck and slipped the little phoenix in the bag. Albus watched him, then abruptly stopped his singing.

"May I see what you have?" he asked.

Harry hesitated for a moment. He'd never shown anyone what was in the pouch, but he doubted Albus would know the significance of any of the objects, so he opened it again and pulled out the phoenix, laid that on the root of the tree, then reached in and pulled out his Snitch.

"Definitely a Seeker," Albus said, amused. "Who else would carry around a Snitch?"

Harry didn't respond as he pulled out his mother's letter and the photo that was torn in half. Albus picked up the picture and smiled, seeing Harry riding the broomstick. Then, Harry took another picture out, one of Teddy that Remus had been carrying the day he died. Albus picked that one up as well, but stared at it longer than the other one.

"This baby is a Metamorphmagus, isn't he?" He asked, looking at it closer.

"Yeah, he's my godson," Harry said. He missed Teddy greatly. They were the last of their dad's group of friends. They had to stick together. "Teddy."

Albus smiled. "I think you've mentioned him before. What's his last name?"

Harry hesitated for a moment, but figured it wouldn't be too horrible to say. "Lupin. His grandmother is a Black, though."

"Ah, that explains that," Albus said, nodding. "There's one Metamorphmagus right now. I don't know his name."

He set the picture down on the root and then reached out for the letter, but Harry, panicking, pulled it away.

"What?" he asked, confused.

Harry shook his head. "You're mentioned in there quite a lot."

"Oh?" Dumbledore asked, his hand twitching as if he wanted to reach out for it again, but Harry put it away and instead brought the part of the two-way mirror out. He checked it, wondering if Aberforth could somehow see into it, but it was just clear like a normal mirror.

Albus seemed confused at the mirror, but didn't question it. Then, he pulled out the locket and the blank Marauder's Map.

"All of this must mean something profound to you."

Harry watched him touch the locket. Harry instantly felt himself going back in time to the night when Albus had died. He'd found that locket right next to Albus's body and now he was touching it again. Harry felt a stab of pain in his chest.

Albus caught his eye, looking up just slightly in the way he would do when he got his half-moon glasses later on. Harry tore his eyes away, hoping he didn't see any of his thoughts.

"Especially this one," he said, placing it down carefully on the tree root. Then, Albus reached for the Snitch and held it while looking at it curiously. "This feels familiar somehow."

He blinked and then shook his head. "This has my magic in it. But it feels very… warm."

His eyes began to fill with tears, which bewildered Harry immensely. He stared as Albus studied it closely.

"Whatever I did to this, it was out of love, but I was very sad," he said. Tears openly fell now, but Albus wouldn't let go. "It feels like now."

Harry held his hand out, hoping to get the Snitch back. Albus reluctantly let it go, setting it in his palm, but Harry immediately had to let it drop to the ground because the metal sent a shock through his skin.

"Would you say that's correct?" Albus asked as Harry began to place the items back into their pouch.

Harry glanced up at him and then looked away. "Yes, I think so."

He paused for a moment to put the pouch around his neck again. "Can you always feel emotions behind magic?"

He shook his head. "Only when it's particularly strong. That was just… overwhelming."

"There were only a few times I've felt that," Harry said, the hair on the back of neck standing. "It was very Dark magic."

Albus shook his head. "There's nothing Dark about that Snitch. It was too warm. The energy is extraordinary. If it weren't my magic, I probably wouldn't have felt it. I believe it would be too much for me to ask what is so special about it, wouldn't it?"

Harry nodded.

Albus wiped his tears away. Then they sat there a few minutes in comfortable silence before Albus asked, "Tell me about your friends. Ron and Hermione, did you say?"

Harry smiled and happily told him about his two best friends in the world. He missed them greatly, but talking of them for the first time out loud for a year made him feel like he'd never left them.

When it had gotten too dark, Albus stood up and reached to help Harry up. "Thank you for talking with me."

Harry nodded. Albus reached to shake his hand and then Harry disapparated back to Flamel's workshop, where he sat on the stool in the middle of the room, adding another ingredient to his potion.

"Six weeks now," Flamel said gruffly.

As Harry sat down next to him to work on some healing potions that Flamel had asked him to do, he wondered if he was really ready. Once he left, he'd never see his Headmaster again. But, he was definitely ready to see his best friends. Sometimes it was incredibly lonely, like he was back at the Dursley's again.

"I have another project for you," Flamel said. "Merrythought needs you for a few days."

Harry looked up at that. Really, he did like Merrythought. He could understand why she'd been a popular professor. He wished he'd have a Defense teacher like her. He just didn't understand why she needed him so suddenly.

"Pack what you need. You're leaving in an hour when she arrives for dinner."

"A few days?" Harry asked. "But I was hoping to talk to Albus-"

"Merrythought needs you. You'll see him soon enough."

So, with that, Harry stood and reluctantly went to pack to go to Hogwarts.

When Albus woke up the next morning, he didn't understand at first, but at the tapping on his window, he sat up, glancing to check if Aberforth was awake. He wasn't even in bed. Confused, he looked up at the window.

He stood up and looked out into the yard. Gellert stood there.

"Albus, I think you should see this!"

Albus, confused and slightly delirious from sleep, said, "What?"

"Get dressed. Come on."

After Albus pulled on his trousers and shoes, he went around to the front yard. The sun was just being to come up.

"What are you showing me?" Albus asked, hearing Aberforth swear in the backyard.

"You'll see," he said, beginning to run. Albus closed his eyes tightly, too tired to run, but he did, anyway.

Albus found himself in front of the graveyard again. He stopped as Gellert unlocked the gate. He didn't want to go in there again. Not ever again. His mother was in there now.

"Come on, Albus, you'll like this."

"I don't think I'll ever like anything that involves dead bodies under my feet," Albus muttered, but stepped around the gate, anyway, to follow him.

They went past rows of graves until they finally went down one that was near to his mother's. He could see the freshly covered grave in the corner of his eye when Gellert stopped right in front of another.

"Look at the symbol," Gellert said.

The triangle with a line through the middle and a circle was unfamiliar to Albus, but the name wasn't. Ignotus Peverell's grave.

"Wait, is that…" Albus said, kneeling down and fingering the carving.

"Yep," Gellert said.

"I knew the Peverell's were rumored to be the brother in the story. But this…" He turned to look up at Gellert with a smile. "This is really them, isn't it? I tried to find information on the Peverell's in December around here-"

"It's brilliant!" Gellert yelled out, spreading his arms out wide. "Look at the date, too. It's 1291. That's about two hundred years before Beedle the Bard wrote the story. I could never find when the brothers were alive, but this is proof!"

Gellert fell to his knees beside Albus and trailed his finger across the symbol like Albus had just done. He smiled widely. "Cloak, wand, stone. I found this in a book in the library a couple years ago. It's brilliant, isn't it?"

Albus nodded, glancing up at from the stone to Gellert. He caught his eyes, which were a darker blue than Albus's own, but just as bright. But what happened next took Albus's breath away: a ray of morning light caught Gellert's, causing them to twinkle like light catching water the same way. It felt as if he could see into his soul, and for a moment, he suspected he had. He could see Gellert looking through books in a dark library. But the breathless feeling lingered even longer than the memory. He'd never felt anything like that before and he felt like it should have scared it, but all it did was make him want to stare at Gellert all day.

"You all right, Albus?" Gellert asked, his eyebrows knitting.

He tore his eyes away. "Of course, Gellert."

"If Ignotius is buried here, I bet his cloak is around here somewhere," Gellert said, glancing around as if it were sitting on a gravestone, just waiting for him to pick it up.

"I thought you believed Ignotius to be the cowardly one?" Albus said, standing. Gellert followed.

"I did, but to do the whole conquering death thing, Albus, you have to have all three." He rolled his eyes and led Albus toward the gate of the graveyard again. Albus glanced back toward his mother's, but he couldn't see it after a few steps. He realized he fell behind Gellert.

"You know how to become invisible, correct?" Albus asked, rushing to catch up with him.

"Of course!" he said. "Just a more refined disillusionment charm. So simple. You wouldn't believe what I got away with at Durmstrang."

"That's how you were at the funeral," Albus said, frowning. "I can do the same with my disillusionment, but I feel like I should have felt that."

Gellert shrugged, but said nothing as he let Albus through the gate first and then closed it again.

"Do you think it's really possible to find all three Deathly Hallows?" Albus asked as they walked together into town.

"Of course," Gellert said, scoffing. "They're around England somewhere."

"Why do you want them?" Albus asked. Though, really, he did want them too. They sounded so powerful! The ability to escape death… it was fascinating.

"Why wouldn't you want them?" Gellert said, shaking his head. "Could you imagine what you could do with objects like that?"

Albus smiled. Oh, he could think of plenty of things. With the wand, he could be powerful in the Ministry. He could be Minister with the wand and his thoughts! He could be the best Minister England ever saw.

But what was more… he could see his parents again with the stone.

"You see?" Gellert said, smirking.

He smiled to himself as they walked together for a minute or two. The whole time, though, he could see himself in the Ministry's top office.

Gellert went immediately into the general store to buy an apple, which brought Albus back to reality.

"Hello, Albus, dear," said Sylvia, who worked at the store. She was a pretty red headed girl who Albus suspected Aberforth had a bit of a crush on. Not counting the disaster that year at school with the poor girl in his year. "How are you and your brother doing? I meant to go to the funeral yesterday, but my husband had a bit of a head cold."

"We're well enough," Albus said. "Thank you."

"If you need anything at all…" Sylvia said as Gellert handed her a shilling.

When they left the store, Gellert glanced at Albus. "I thought you had a sister, too."

"Uh, no," Albus said. "Just a brother."

"Hmpf," Gellert muttered, rubbing the apple against his shirt, then taking a bite of it. "I swear I saw a girl with your brother this morning. Blonde hair, slightly erratic."

"Must have been seeing things."

Gellert raised an eyebrow, but said nothing else to that. They walked the square, Albus telling Gellert about the different shop keepers.

Then once they wandered back to Albus's house to sit under a tree at the front of the house, for the rest of the morning he and Gellert talked about the differences and similarities in Durmstrang and Hogwarts education and how they would change things if they ever became Headmasters.

Albus didn't even notice his brother glaring at them through the window.

As Albus and Gellert talked in Godric's Hollow, Harry helped Merrythought sort through her piles of books in Scotland that morning.

"Nicolas has been telling me you've been seeing Albus," Merrythought said as she flipped through one book and placed it on the shelf. She'd told him that she finally convinced Phineas Nigellus that she needed more bookshelves in her office, but Harry wondered why they were dong this manually because it felt much more like a detention than anything else. "I think-"

"I know," Harry said. "But I need to talk to him. I was once called 'Dumbledore's man through and through.' I have to get to know him more."

She sighed. "I know… That's why- Nevermind."

"Nevermind what?" Harry asked, flipping through one book she had called 'Encountering the Uncounterable."

"I brought you here so I could do ask you to do something. Nicolas has no idea I'm doing this but-"

Harry gasped. He stared down at the book, not believing what he was seeing.

"What?" Merrythought asked, peering over his shoulder.

"Nothing," Harry said, shutting the book and placing it on the shelf wearily. He had thought there weren't any book that mentioned Horcrux in the school! But there it was, right on Merrythought's shelf. "What were you saying?"

Merrythought placed a stack of books next to the book he'd put on the shelf. "I'd like you to write a letter."

"A letter?" he asked, confused. "Why?"

She cringed slightly and sat down in the chair that sat across from her desk. "You said Albus dies."

Harry nodded, looking down at the next book.

"What day does he die?"

"June 30, 1997," Harry said. He doubted he would ever forget the date, like he'd never forget Sirius's, Fred's, Snape's, Remus's, Tonks's, his parents.

"Nicolas is taking his memories," she said, pushing a piece of hair that came out of her braid behind her ear. "But… I want to give them back to him."

Harry stared. "What? How?"

"Through the letter… I can charm it so that he can't open the letter until I say he can. I'll give it to him before I die, assuming I do die?"

Harry shrugged and said apologetically: "I have no idea when you do. I never met you. I just heard mention of you."

She nodded slowly. "Well, I'll give it to him sometime in the future. When you do get back into the future, will you look me up? I'd love to see you again."

Harry smiled. "Yeah, I'll do that."

She looked away, a sad smile on her face. "Back to the letter. I know there are things you'd like to say to him that you won't be able to say here. I think it would be good for you to let him know what those things are, so he can hear them before he dies. I won't read it or anything. I'll just charm it. I've been doing research, I've found a way to embed forgotten memories into paper. This would have to be done after you leave, but I know I can do it."

Harry nodded, but overall, he wasn't so sure if he should do it. He'd like Dumbledore to remember him being there, but he wasn't sure if that was a good idea to do. What if Dumbledore rejected the memories that came back to him? What if that changed how his last day went, with Harry being there with him in the cave?

"Look, can I think about this?" Harry asked, flipping through the next book he'd picked up.

She nodded. Then, they kept going with the books until Merrythought announced she had a summer staff meeting in the Great Hall. "Harry, don't leave this room. I know you have your fancy map and cloak, but I'd rather you stay here."

Harry nodded.

But once she left, he pulled the book he'd seen with the mention of Horcruxes and tore out the page. Then, once a few minutes went by, he doned his cloak and went to the library.

There, he scavenged through the books, looking for any mention of Horcruxes.

A/N: Soooo I managed to write this chapter out. I'm kind of regretting not adding Merrythought in more to this story… along with a lot of other things. Maybe a rewrite whenever I get this story finished?

Also, someone wanted Grindelwald and Harry to meet again… They will. I promise :)

Edit: I completely forgot to credit the little poem Albus sang! It's from Wordsworth and Coleridge's Lyrical Ballads book :)