Chapter 35 - Harry and Albus
Harry Potter walked silently in the dark corridors making his way to his very secret room with a satisfied smile on his face.
He didn't feel an ounce of guilt for modifying Hermione's memory at all. In his mind she rather deserved it for being too nosy. Added to that he didn't want anyone knowing where the chamber of secrets was and most importantly he didn't trust her big mouth to stay shut for long.
His heart was thumping hard and fast because of the excitement and thrill he felt holding Salazar Slytherin's pensive and getting the chance to see what the founders were like and finding out whether history was right or wrong about the history of Salazar Slytherin.
"It's been a while Harry darling!" came the sweet and melodious sound of Ariel the stone mermaid which concealed his room.
Harry just rolled his eyes and kissed her. He no longer felt embarrassed doing that.
Giggling the mermaid jumped aside and Harry entered the room.
He placed the black pensive on his table and sat on his bed feeling very drained all of a sudden. He wanted to just lie down and sleep but the excitement of viewing Slytherin's memories kept him awake.
A hoot alerted him of Hedwig's presence at the edge of the bed with a letter tied to her foot. One glance at the elegant handwriting and Harry knew it was from Sirius.
He removed the letter while giving the owl an affectionate pat and put it aside. He'd read it later.
But first things first.
From what he remembered about pensives one had to touch the surface of the liquid memories to view them. Feeling the excitement begin to bubble inside him, Harry moved to his table and slowly stretched his fingers into the pensive until it touched the memories.
But nothing happened. Ripples emerged from the place he put finger in and nothing else.
Frowning Harry tried again but there was no change.
"Don't tell me I can't even enter his pensive!" he said with a groan and his excitement turned to disappointment and frustration.
"Damn it all to hell!" he shouted in anger. Cursing under his breath Harry headed to his book shelf looking for the book in which he had read about how a pensive works.
"Ah-ha! Here it is," he said. "Forbidden and Forgotten Runes."
He pulled out the small tome and skipped to the section regarding pensives.
"Making a pensive requires great care and skill. It takes a little over three years to make one and… blah, blah, blah," muttered Harry as he scrolled down the page looking for something to help him. "Wizards with great skill can sometimes embed their own characteristics into the pensive allowing only a descendent of same blood to enter. Such pensive's cannot be accessed by any other person unless given a key word by the creator of the pensive."
Harry stared at that paragraph with complete defeat in his eyes.
He just couldn't believe it. It was simply too much to handle. After having to go through so much trouble to get Lillian to the chamber, then having to put up with Hermione, then being unable to enter Slytherin's private room and now not being able to view those memories!
Words couldn't describe what Harry was feeling right now.
Sighing he summoned the compass Nicolas had given him to see if the reading had reduced but to his dismay it had increased by five percent. Wasn't burning those books supposed to reduce the reading!
Harry slowly backed away from his desk and sank his head into his pillow and closed his eyes.
"Please let tomorrow be a better day," he thought before drifting to sleep.
Unfortunately the next day was going to be another trying day too for it was going to bring news of Voldemort's latest devastating attack.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
It was half past eight when Harry's eyes finally opened from a blissful sleep. Yawning, he dragged his body out of bed before his eyes spotted the time on his watch.
"Aww, damn!" he cursed loudly.
It was almost nine by the time he was ready and he ran out of the room and sprinted all the way down to the great hall. Usually when he slept in his private room he always made sure to be back in the common room before six in the morning to avoid suspicion.
Unfortunately yesterday's events had left him quite exhausted and now he was going to receive a lot of questions from a lot of inquisitive idiots. Hopefully Blaise would have covered up for him.
So when Harry reached the great hall he was surprised that no one at the Slytherin table bothered to even glance his way.
Taking a moment to catch his breath he slowly headed to where Blaise was seated and on his way he noticed the entire school was down and all of them had their noses buried in the daily prophet and those who didn't were glaring at the Slytherin table.
He also noticed that some of the Slytherin's had gleeful looks on their faces and Malfoy was exceptionally happy.
The entire staff was gathered too and Harry realized that something bad must have happened and he knew it had to do with the sudden increase in the reading of his compass.
"Did you see this Harry?" asked Blaise when Harry took a seat next to him.
"See what?" asked Harry apprehensively.
"The dark lord attacked muggle London last night," he said. "More than 400 people are said to have been killed."
"What!" gasped Harry.
"Yeah," said Blaise solemnly. "But that's not all. Muggles were able to record the whole incident and the whole country and world was able to see what happened."
"He attacked in broad daylight risking the exposure of our world!"
"The Prophet says that was the idea of the attack. All the magical ministries all over the world have been working overtime to modify god only knows how many peoples memories and the muggle government is saying that it was a fake video tape… whatever that means."
Harry was horrified at the thought of the exposure of their world to muggles. A little voice at the back of his mind was saying he should he horrified at the loss of life too.
"What are the muggles going to do now?" asked Harry.
Blaise shrugged. "I guess the Minister Bones might have convinced the Prime minister not to declare war on us. But another attack on them and they will be well within their rights to retaliate."
"Retaliate without a fixed target?" said Harry with raised eyebrows.
"That's why it's so scary," said Nott suddenly in his soft yet bitter voice. "They could attack anywhere at any time without any thought to whether the person is innocent or not. They will be looking to spill blood. That's all."
"So we're going to be stuck in two wars soon," said Harry with a snort.
"Looks like it," said Nott.
Harry looked towards Malfoy and was disgusted to see him laughing with Flint and most of the other Slytherin's while reading the article.
Tearing his eyes away from them Harry stood up. "Let's get to class," he said motioning the other two to join him.
But in class Harry could not concentrate.
He could not help but wonder if he should have done something to stop the dark lord. It was his responsibility wasn't it? But how could he have known of the attack. And even if he did could he have stopped Voldemort? Was he strong enough to take on the dark lord? Sure he had his elemental power to back him up but Voldemort had decades of experience and dark magic to back him up.
So if there was nothing he could have done then why did he feel there was a bottomless pit of regret in him?
"Mr. Potter!"
The voice was like a crack of a whip in the dark to Harry and he was jerked out of his thought process.
"Yes, Professor Lupin?"
"Can you please enlighten the class about what we were just discussing?" Lupin asked sternly.
"No sir," replied Harry.
Lupin was thrown off guard by the reply but managed to compose himself. "What do you mean no Mr. Potter?"
"I was day dreaming," said Harry causing the Slytherin's to start laughing.
Lupin frowned in disapproval. "Ten points from Slytherin and detention with me tonight at 9 'o' clock."
By the end of the last class which was transfiguration, Harry had three detentions and had lost over fifty points for his house.
He simply couldn't bring his mind to not think about Voldemort. He had even thought about taking the fight to Voldemort by finding his base and attacking him. He was confident that he could take everyone out with his element but he also knew it was too rash a plan and anything could go wrong so it was dismissed immediately.
And now he was on his way to the great hall when he was ambushed by three students whom he really didn't want to meet.
Ronald Weasley, Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnegan.
All three just stood there watching him seriously. Harry didn't know what they wanted and nor did he care. He just wanted to go out of the castle and bring his mind to rest.
Keen to get away from them he tried walking past them but they blocked his path.
Harry narrowed his eyes in annoyance. "What do you three want?"
Naturally Ronald was the one who spoke up. "We want to know where your allegiances lie."
Harry was startled by the question.
"Excuse me?" he asked incredulously.
"You are the boy who lived. When we read about you know who's attack, we couldn't help but think who is going to stop him," said Dean.
"And yours was the first name that came into our minds," said Seamus.
"But you're in the house of snakes and we all know that almost everyone in that house supports you know who. But you could be different because you're the boy who lived," said Ronald. "So we need to know if you're with us or against us."
Of all the things to come out from Ronald Weasley's mouth, this was the last thing he expected. He felt terribly amused but resisted the urge to laugh at them. He respected the fact that they actually came to talk to him despite their hatred for him and his house.
"Would you ask me the same question if I weren't the bloody boy who lived?" Harry asked them in return.
He was replied with a strong 'no' from all three of them.
"I thought not. I will not answer your question unless you treat the Slytherin's with respect and not hatred," he said. "Not everyone from the Slytherin house is a dark wizard."
"They are," spat Ronald. "And so are you if you don't tell us whom you're siding with."
Anger bubbled inside Harry listening to the red heads dim, narrow minded thought process.
"I am against you, Ronald Weasley, that's for sure. So get out of my way before I make you," hissed Harry losing his patience. He had enough on his mind as it is.
All three Gryffindor's took a step back in fear.
"Move," growled Harry drawing his wand.
"No," said Ron, trying to be brave. "If you're going to side with he who must not be named then we have to stop you!"
Ron drew his wand but Harry had, had enough. Making it look like he was using his wand, he wandlessly pushed them away from him and summoned Weasley's wand to him.
"Please don't piss me of," said Harry irritably. "Your pathetic attempts to intimidate me do not work and stop acting like you're the epitome of goodness in this world."
Sighing, he threw Ronald's wand at his feet.
The Gryffindor's glared at Harry but made no attempt to curse him.
"You should remember that Voldemort killed my family.
Would you follow someone who killed your parents?" he asked them. "Stop trying to be cool and start using that puny brain of yours," he said and swiftly walked away.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
Harry's mind was finally at ease. He was sitting under one of the huge banyan tree near the lake watching the other students running and laughing wearing thick clothing to protect them from the chill of December.
Occasionally a few of them would glance weirdly at him wondering how could he just sit there wearing a shirt and pants but Harry didn't care.
Weather like this was heaven for an elemental like him.
He was enjoying the atmosphere when he sensed someone sit down next to him.
"Hi Freckles."
"How many times must I ask you not to call me that," said Lillian exasperatedly.
Harry looked at her and started laughing.
"What's so funny!"
"I can barely see your face under all that clothing."
Lillian rolled her eyes. "Well unlike you, I hate this season and I'm doing whatever I can to make myself warm."
"Why not stay near the fireplace all day?"
"I needed some fresh air," she replied.
"You mean your fellow Gryffindor's have been annoying the crap out of you," he said with a grin.
"You got that right," she muttered. "Hermione seems to be watching my every move like a hawk. She has good intentions but they're a pain in my arse. The rest of the house thinks my friendship with you is unhealthy and apparently you're using me for nefarious purposes!"
Harry snorted.
"And I haven't forgiven you for obliviating Hermione either," she added.
"Like I care," drawled Harry. "She deserved what she got for snooping around."
"She did turn out to be helpful you know," said Lillian lightly defending Hermione's actions.
"Yeah, yeah whatever," said Harry. "I didn't want anyone to know about the chamber. I was even planning on obliviating you too, you know."
Lillian's mouth dropped open in shock. "You wouldn't have!"
"But I changed my mind," said Harry grinning.
"Potter," she said pointing her finger at him in anger, but the effect was lost as she couldn't bend her fingers as they were covered in three layers of thick woolen gloves. "Have you ever wiped my memory!"
Harry pretended to think hard. "If I have I don't remember it."
Lillian huffed. "You're a dick you know that?"
"I do," said Harry solemnly.
"God! It's useless to insult you too!"
Harry started laughing. "Man Freckles, you're just too easy to wind up!"
"Laugh it up you dork," she said grumbling.
Both elementals just sat there looking over the lake.
"I suppose you read the daily prophet today," said Lillian suddenly.
"Blaise told me about it," replied Harry darkly.
"But did you read it?"
"I didn't want to."
"According to the prophet Voldemort was controlling darkness and used it to destroy the bridge and killing everyone around him," she said quietly.
Harry knew what she meant.
"Has the reading increased?"
"Yes," said Harry softly.
"So what are we going to do about it?" she asked him.
Harry sighed and stood up and looked her with an unreadable expression on his face. "I don't know," he whispered.
"I'll see you around Freckles," he said and turned back to the castle. It was seven and Filch and his ever faithful cat, Mrs. Norris would be coming to shoo everyone back to their common rooms.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-
After Harry left the grounds he didn't go back to the common room but was wandering around the castle.
It seemed every time he was in a closed place his mind would repeatedly slither back to Voldemort and right now he was wondering what would happen if Voldemort continued using such magic.
If that was the case than he knew that it wouldn't be long before true evil was unleashed upon the world and he honestly wondered if he could actually fight that kind of a monster.
It took three wizards high on power to bring it down and Harry had the potential to reach to the strength of just one of them so statistically he didn't stand a chance.
But the main question that was running through his head was that could he best Voldemort in a one on one fight.
That thought kept running through his head constantly and when passed by the gargoyles guarding the headmaster's office the answer struck him like a bolt of lighting.
He needed help.
But could be bring himself to ignore his past confrontations with Dumbledore and actually talk to him? Tell him the truth about his wand and about what was about to be unleashed on the world?
.
.
.
.
He had to. He might not be in a position to be able to do much but Dumbledore sure was. But in exchange the headmaster was the one he was going to duel to find out where he stood.
The fog that had been shielding his mind for the entire day suddenly lifted and Harry turned towards the gargoyles with a light smile on his face.
"I wish to meet headmaster Dumbledore," he told the gargoyles politely.
There was no visible moment on the gargoyles but Harry could feel the magic shift in them.
A moment or two later the gargoyles jumped aside and Harry strode in stepping on the revolving staircase that led to Dumbledore's office.
"Come in Harry," said Dumbledore before Harry could knock on the ancient door.
Shaking his head in amusement Harry entered the office.
"Ah welcome Harry," said Dumbledore. "Please do take a seat."
Harry obliged.
"May I ask what brings you to my office?"
Harry confidence faltered for a moment as he wondered how he should begin.
"Is there something you want to tell me Harry?"
"Yes sir, there is. But I'm just wondering where to start," said Harry.
"The beginning is usually the best," said Dumbledore with a smile.
Harry rolled his eyes. "In this case there are a lot of places to start from," he muttered. "Professor about Voldemort's attack," he began.
The smile faded from the aged headmasters face. "A terrible tragedy," he said softly.
"Is there any truth to what the prophet is saying about him using a strange power?"
Dumbledore sighed. "I'm afraid it is and I do not know how he obtained it, it has all of us stumped."
"I think I might know," said Harry.
Dumbledore frowned. "What do you mean?"
Harry summoned his wand and placed it on the table.
"It has almost everything to do with this," he said seriously.
The headmasters white eyebrows shot up. "I don't understand."
"Do you remember the day we almost cursed each other?"
"How could I forget," said Dumbledore lightly.
"The deathly hallows are nothing but a story Professor," said Harry making Dumbledore's eyes go wide. "The true story is a bit different from the one everyone else has heard."
"Do explain more clearly Harry."
"They are hallows are real sir, but they do not make you the master of death and they aren't gifts from death either."
"Then what are they?" asked Dumbledore confused.
Harry took a deep breath. "They are gifts given by evil when the three brothers defeated it."
"Gifts from evil?" said Dumbledore disbelievingly.
Harry grinned warily, "I guess it does sound really lame but it's the truth. My wand told me."
"Your wand told you? Harry you're not playing games with me are you?"
Harry shook his head and continued.
"This is not a normal wand. It's a very special wand which evil was forced to give to the eldest brother as a gift for sparing its life. The second brother was given the resurrection stone and the third the cloak of invisibility.
These were the things which evil gave them in exchange for its life. Because of their greed for power they let live a creature which would one day come back to power and destroy the world as we know it."
"My wand says the brothers represented the good in the world and that creature represented evil. But I think it was just a fight for survival which the creature truly won. The brothers are dead and the creature will soon be back in this world."
"Harry," interrupted Dumbledore. "Please slow down and tell the purpose of you telling me this fascinating story."
"Purpose!" said Harry fiercely. "The purpose of me telling you this fascinating story is that Voldemort is a vessel for this creature. The power he used to destroy the bridge was not his but of that creature! The more he uses dark magic the more aware the creature becomes!"
"The more aware the creature becomes!"
Harry groaned in annoyance. "How do you think dark arts came into existence?" he snapped.
Dumbledore opened his mouth to say something but Harry stopped him.
"That creature is the dark arts! I don't fully understand how it works but to get its powers back it created the dark arts. Normal magic comes from your magical core but the dark arts are something that you summon from a different dimension!"
"Different dimension?" said Dumbledore frowning as he tried to make sense of what Harry was saying. And then realization struck him like a sledge hammer being slammed into the side of his head.
"You mean that using dark arts fuels this creature and when a certain point is reached it will use a vessel to come back into this world!"
"Yes!" said Harry pleased that Dumbledore finally understood.
"But how!" wondered Dumbledore aloud. "Where does all the power come from if the creature was left powerless!"
"After the creature was defeated it sought a way to restore itself but could find none," said Harry leaning forward. "Out of all three brothers the youngest was the only one who realized what a terrible mistake they had made and tried to correct said mistake by finishing the creature off."
"But he couldn't," said Dumbledore finally connecting all the pieces.
"Exactly! The creature even though stripped of all this powers after his duel with the brothers did have a few abilities left. It began possessing humans and began corrupting their souls in order to fuel himself. But it wasn't enough, the process was too slow and it was never enough to sustain him."
"Corrupting their souls and then consuming it like a Dementor, a dark creature," said Dumbledore thoughtfully.
"Not exactly," said Harry, though he did wonder at the back of his mind if Dementors were another creation of evil. "It was able to use access its magical core by taking control of another wizard's core and that gave it a terrifying idea."
Harry took a deep breath and looked into Dumbledore's eyes.
"It decided to sacrifice its consciousness to create his brand of magic," he said. "Do you understand what it did?"
"Sacrificed its consciousness to create dark arts," muttered Dumbledore thinking deeply. "And he had the power to take control of another magical person's core to fuel his own…"
Dumbledore gasped suddenly, "That means the dark arts are merely a form of his soul! A person who uses the dark arts fuels his core and loses his own."
"And when its core is fueled enough it will regain consciousness and re-emerge through a vessel," added Harry grimly.
"And that vessel is Voldemort," said Dumbledore slowly.
"Yes. Because of the extent to wish he has immersed himself into the dark arts, he has begun to tap into the creatures core itself. The more he uses its magic, the faster it becomes conscious."
Dumbledore intertwined his fingers and leveled his gaze at Harry's wand.
"So this means that the deathly hallows was just a story to cover up this truth," he said, his voice filled with disappointment.
"It was a story made up by the youngest brother to keep the truth alive but hidden," said Harry with a shrug.
"But why did the wand chose you Harry?" asked Dumbledore quietly. Was this the power the dark lord knows not he wondered at the back of his mind.
"The wand would only choose someone with a greater potential than the first brother and no one else," he said lightly feeling a bit proud of himself. "And the one with the wand is the only one who has the slightest chance of defeating the creature," he added with a wry smile.
Dumbledore looked at Harry with his eyes full of pity.
"This is not a burden someone as young as you should bear Harry," he murmured.
Before Harry would have gotten irritated if Dumbledore or anyone else had said that or even shown pity on him. But now he didn't care. He had accepted his fate and often called it destiny to make himself feel better.
"Too late for that," muttered Harry. "So do you now understand sir?"
"I have understood what the dark arts truly are and what will happen if Voldemort continues to use dark magic. But there's one thing I don't understand," he said.
"What's that sir?"
"What do you want in return for giving me all this ahh.. information," he said with a smile.
Harry laughed. "You saw right through me headmaster," he admitted. "The real reason I came here is because I want to test myself against someone who has stood firm against Voldemort."
Dumbledore raised his eyebrows. "You wish to duel me?" he asked with mild amusement.
"Whom else can I ask without them thinking I'm crazy?"
Dumbledore shook his head warily. "Harry," he began. "I don't think you should be worrying about dueling Voldemort now."
Expecting this sort of thing from Dumbledore Harry dug his hand into his pocket and removed the compass and placed it in front of Dumbledore.
"What this?" he asked curiously.
"It's a compass measuring how conscious the creature is," said Harry. "Currently it rests at thirty seven percent."
Dumbledore didn't say anything so Harry continued.
"When it reaches one hundred percent all hell will break loose on this world," he said.
"So that means we have enough time to stop it from happening," said Dumbledore.
Harry shook his head in negative. "Yesterday, before Voldemort attacked it was sitting pretty at twenty percent. And before he came back to power it was just seven percent."
Again Dumbledore didn't visibly react but this time Harry knew the man was slightly shook up.
"Do the math sir. If things continue the way they are, it will be little over a year and a half before the compass reaches its peak. And I need to be ready to fight if I have to survive and win this war sir."
"Not just you," murmured Dumbledore. "Every witch and wizard capable of holding a wand will have to be ready to fight for their lives."
Harry nodded solemnly.
Dumbledore stood up abruptly startling Harry.
"Sir?"
"We don't have a lot of time Mr. Potter," chided Dumbledore smiling, "Let's see how well you can handle a wand."
"Now!"
Dumbledore frowned. "When else did you expect?" he said, his eyes twinkling.
Harry just shook his head and blinked his eyes and then stood up.
"Good," said Dumbledore and beckoned Harry to a door hidden behind his bookshelf.
Harry's eyebrows shot up on entering the room. It was a massive dome shaped room whose purpose which Harry could easily guess, was to duel.
Dumbledore walked to the other end of the room and faced Harry who had his wand in hand looking determined.
"Any rules professor?" asked Harry.
"Yes," said Dumbledore. "I don't want you to hide your abilities. If you want to be able to duel with Voldemort you will have to refine every last weapon in your arsenal."
"I wasn't planning on hiding any," replied Harry.
"Good. Then let us begin," he said and drew his wand. "In three, two, one!"
When Dumbledore began his countdown Harry had already begun to gather magic at his feet and when he heard the one, he flashed behind Dumbledore with his wand glowing red in readiness for a stunning spell.
So Harry was very very surprised when he found himself being yanked back like someone had just pulled on his shirt and then being spun like a top while having his body completely bound in tight ropes and then being strung upside down from the ceiling.
Upside down and still rotating slowly he looked into the smiling face of Albus Dumbledore.
"How did you know?" said Harry. Blood was rushing to his head making him a little dizzy.
"Experience," said Dumbledore, "Even though I didn't know where you disappeared too my body reacted on its own."
Harry grimaced. "You think Voldemort would have reacted in the same way?" he asked while planning a counter attack in his mind. There was no way he was going down so easy.
"Definitely," said Dumbledore, "But he would most certainly underestimate you in a one on one battle."
"As are you," said Harry summoning his element and freezing the ropes and breaking through them with ease.
Flipping in the air Harry landed gracefully on his feet and let loose a powerful cutting curse at Dumbledore's wand arm.
The curse was swatted aside and Dumbledore jumped back with a strange gleam in his eyes.
"A curse that powerful without wand moment and silently cast to boot. It seems that you've been practicing real hard."
"Thank you," said Harry with a tilt of his head and slashed his wand in a downward motion sending a pink colored curse at Dumbledore who in turn conjured a brick wall which crumbled to ash on contact with the curse.
Harry's heart started beating faster knowing the real duel was going to begin soon as professor and student began to circle each other.
"Decollous!" shouted Harry suddenly, firing the decapitation hex at the headmaster while simultaneously summoning his element and freezing the entire length of the floor.
Harry did not let up in his assault. Just as Dumbledore avoided his hex, he raised ice spikes from the bottom in an attempt to stab the headmaster.
But in the blink of an eye, the spikes were transfigured into cloth. "No letting up," thought Harry and began to constantly bombard Dumbledore with all sorts of objects made from ice and each one was either transfigured into something mundane or deflected away.
"Either he's seeing everything in slow motion or he's really fast!" thought Harry.
There was another pause in the duel Dumbledore managed to dispel all of Harry's attacks.
"Your spells are powerful Harry, but you're still holding back," said Dumbledore.
"Maybe it's because you refuse to return fire."
"I'll return fire if you manage to get a hit on me," replied Dumbledore. "But the way things are going, I doubt you'll be able to come within 5 feet of me."
Harry's irritation spiked at hearing that. Sure he had never beaten Penny in a duel but he sure had made her work hard to beat him at times and he was going to show the old man what he was made off.
"Confringo!" yelled Harry and began running towards Dumbledore.
"Confringo, confringo, confringo!" yelled in succession as Dumbledore deflected the curses. But that was just a distraction.
As Harry closed the gap between the two, he suddenly raised his left hand and blasted a powerful jet of ice cold water at the headmaster.
Dumbledore barely managed to raise a shield against the elemental attack and he grunted when it impacted his shield. The jet of water suddenly split into two and moved around the shield and slammed into Dumbledore from behind.
Gasping Dumbledore was thrown forward and he quickly rolled out of the way to avoid the jet. But Harry was not going to let that happen!
He was going to show Dumbledore the mistake of thinking he could take on an elemental without attacking.
The water further split into four jets and rushed at the professor who stood up swiftly and conjured five thick wooden boards and surrounded himself with them to fend off the water jet attacks.
Harry smirked as Dumbledore didn't notice the water pooling beneath his legs and just as fast as the water was released by Harry, it was converted into ice and easily pierced through the wood trapping Dumbledore in a cage of ice, with his feet stuck to the ground.
To ensure that the headmaster didn't blast the ice cage out of existence or transfigure it, Harry had tiny sharp needles made of ice grow out the ice columns trapping Dumbledore and had them stop just a centimeter away from the headmasters body ensuring that if he tried to move, it would be a very painful result.
To top it all off, everything happened in less than 15 seconds.
Dumbledore was about to flick his wand but Harry spotted the moment and had one of his needles prick the professor's hand drawing blood and making the professor drop his wand.
Smiling victoriously Harry walked towards the headmaster.
"Why do you not take me seriously headmaster?" asked Harry mockingly.
Dumbledore shook his head sadly. "It is you who is not talking me seriously."
Harry narrowed his eyes, "I don't think you understand the situation you are in professor."
To Harry's surprise Dumbledore chuckled. "Ah there's that Slytherin arrogance," he said shaking his head.
"Stupefy," muttered Harry, but to his shock the curse just passed through Dumbledore and the man faded away into nothingness.
"You still haven't touched me yet Harry," said Dumbledore softly from behind Harry.
Eyes wide, Harry turned sharply letting loose a cutting curse but like before the curse passed through Dumbledore and the professor faded away.
"Illusions?" muttered Harry questioningly.
"Not quite," said Dumbledore, this time standing a few feet away from Harry.
"But you I never saw you cast the spell on yourself," said Harry as his eyes darted around trying to spot the real Dumbledore. "And it takes several wand moments and time to cast such a spell."
"I didn't cast it on myself but I did cast a hallucination hex on you when I tied you up. I'm not that stupid that I would take on an elemental such as you without protecting myself," he said giving a smile which infuriated Harry.
"And you said you wouldn't return fire," Harry said scathingly.
"And you believed me," shot back Dumbledore.
Harry closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
"Closing your eyes in a duel Harry?" said Dumbledore sounding amused. "Not a good…"
His voice was drowned in a sudden blast of hail and water which erupted from Harry which went flying in all directions.
Hallucinations or not, the real Dumbledore was forced to raise a shield against the hail storm which Harry had summoned.
FLASHBACK
It was another training session and another day filled with pain and bruises for Harry.
He was blindfolded and was constantly being pelted by rocks and Penny expected him to dodge said stones without being able to see them!
"This is pointless," said Harry tiredly.
"No its not," replied Penny, "You just have to concentrate on the feeling! How do you feel when lift that stone with your magic?"
"I feel it rushing through my blood to do as commanded."
"Now tell your magic to spread! Try to feel your magic touch the rock and determine its location for you!"
"I can always feel my magic lifting objects with my eyes open! I need to have eye contact with an object to be able to move it!" said Harry in frustration.
"Why are you limiting yourself Harry," snapped Perenelle. "First of all, you can do what no wizard or witch could ever do and now you're saying that you don't have the capacity to evolve this ability? I hear a loser talking boy."
"I like to see you try it then!" yelled Harry in anger.
"Unfortunately I can't," hissed Perenelle. "I'm going to push you harder and harder until you do what I want to see!"
Helplessness filled Harry. "I can't do this!" he said desperately, not wanting to undergo another round of pain.
"Too late," said Perenelle grimly and she flicked her wand blindfolding Harry again.
Another flick of her wand and a dozen small and sharp stones lifted of the ground.
"I have told you what I want Harry. It's up to you to come up with a solution, but until then we're going to keep doing this until we reach a point where you don't even have the strength to blink."
Penny felt terrible doing this but she had to be cruel to Harry if he had any hope of surviving the coming war.
And so the gruesome training continued. Harry was constantly pelted with stones as he tried to use his magic to detect them coming at him.
He could feel the magic brimming with power inside him but he just could not get it to form a proximity ward of sorts around him like Penny wanted! Also it wasn't like he wasn't trying to do it. Sure he was trying real hard but it just wasn't happening!
Slowly time passed by and blood kept dripping out of Harry's body as each stone Perenelle sent at him cut threw his skin or left painful bruises.
8 hours later Perenelle stopped. Harry had collapsed and wasn't moving.
"Are you alive?" asked Penny kicking him lightly while munching on a cheese burger.
"Please stop," came a broken whisper.
"Oh! You can still talk?"
"I can't do this anymore."
"You know something Harry?" said Penny, finishing up her cheese burger. "I've found that in magical beings, when the body is pushed to the brink of death, their magic does anything in its power to save it from death. And if the wizard or witch in question has great power, then their magic somewhat responds to their… hmm how to put it? . . . . . . their dying command!"
Harry pushed his body up and looked at her with horror in his eyes.
"You're there, but not quite," were the words he heard before a spear was thrust through his left shoulder pinning him to the ground.
The pain was unimaginable.
And then the spear was yanked out and Harry screamed.
Penny grabbed Harry and dragged him to his feet. "IF YOU WANT IT STOP THEN STOP IT!" she shouted and put the blindfold back on and pushed Harry away.
The spear was thrust into his body again but this time an inch away from the first hole punched in his body.
Another scream tore through Harry's mouth as he backed away desperate to escape.
The spear pierced him again in the same place and his shoulder was literally hanging from his body.
"Please stop just stop it," pleaded Harry in his mind, blind to the world. "Please stop, please stop, please stop," he kept chanting in his mind between the pain and the tears.
"Please stop," he said out loud sobbing and fell on to his knees.
It was only then he realized that Perenelle had indeed stopped. His breath coming in short gasps he used his left hand to remove the blindfold looked up.
It was raining hard and through a haze of pain he saw Penny standing a few feet away looking at him strangely.
"Let me in Harry," she said gently but her voice seemed very far away to him.
"Whaa..?" he croaked out.
"Go to sleep Harry, everything's going to be fine," she whispered.
END FLASHBACK
Smiling Harry began to spread his magic around the room and detected Dumbledore holding up a shield at the far end of the room.
He directed the hail to focus majority of its force a little distance away from Dumbledore tricking the headmaster into lowering the power he was putting into his shield and Harry at that exact moment had a huge block of ice slam into the shield shattering it and directed another small ice shard pierce the headmaster's hand.
Dumbledore was shocked! Not only had Harry found him but he had also managed to hurt him!
"I got you Professor," said Harry panting.
Dumbledore looked at his hand and then back at Harry with a frown on his face. He then looked around the room and saw the damage done to the room which was slowly repairing itself.
The floor was filled with water which reached up to his knee which was saying something considering the size of the room and also there were miniature icebergs floating in them!
"You could have just given me a tiny cut instead of sticking a needle in my hand," said Dumbledore finally.
Harry grinned. "It feels good to have drawn blood from you."
Dumbledore noted that Harry still had his wand at the ready. "You can put your wand away, the duel is over."
"You said that if I drew blood you'd fight back!"
Dumbledore smiled. "It took you so much time and effort to just draw blood, imagine the difference if I fought back."
Harry was furious.
"But before you start voicing your protests hear what I have to say."
Harry nodded stiffly.
"You asked me to tell you if I thought you could take on Voldemort right?"
"Yeah."
"I think you can."
Harry was stunned. Clearly this was not what he was expecting to hear. "Why?"
"I was ready for you to attack that is why I could counter it. Voldemort will be expecting you to be a weakling in front of him and will never believe that you attack him or even hurt him. That is why I think that I you take him by surprise and attack first if you ever met him head on, he wouldn't know what hit him."
Harry stunned expression turned to one of glee.
"But I have a question to ask you Harry," said Dumbledore.
"What?"
"Are you hiding anymore abilities?"
Harry smirked, "Let's just say my arsenal does not just consist of elemental powers."
"I assume you're referring to the speed at which you moved?"
"Part of it," admitted Harry. "But sir, I still want to have a proper duel with you."
"I suggest even better," said Dumbledore. "Starting tomorrow I want you to come to my office after dinner and I can teach you things that would help you fight the dark lord."
"Brilliant!" exclaimed Harry.
"Then you better get some sleep my boy," said the headmaster chuckling.
Harry nodded and left to get some well deserved sleep leaving Dumbledore to his thoughts. "The boy is so powerful Fawkes," he said to his phoenix. "His will is strong too."
"We now have a beacon of hope."
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
Miles away in a house of gold a women was sitting near a lake surrounded by a mountain of files.
Nicolas Flamel watched from a distance as his wife searched for hours through the family tree records that they had wondering what it was that she was looking for.
He saw her eyes widen and saw sadness etched into her face as she turned towards him.
Concerned he hurried to her side wondering what was wrong.
"What happened Penny?"
He knelt next to her as a tear leaked from her eye. Sniffing she handed him an extremely old portrait and asked to look at it.
"This is a portrait of you and your sister," he said carefully.
"Did you know her eyes were as blue as the sea?"
"Yes, honey. I remember clearly," he said gently.
"Now look at her face and look at this photograph."
He recognized the girl in the photograph and then his eyes widened in realization.
"No," he whispered in shock.
"Yes," said Perenelle. "Lillian Mary Austin is a descendent of my sister.
.
.
.
.
Or you could say our niece."