Jo: I found out that Cho will be the sneak through a sight called thee Leaky Cauldron, supposedly one of JK's favorite sights. I just have a feeling that Cho will be made to be bad or to die in book seven, but the Leaky caldron sight definitely said she will be there. I personally don't want to be around for it. Just adds to my already massive problems.
Thanks to everyone who has kept with me so far. I don't know if I will finish this story now… I'm going to try as best I can. If I don't end up finishing, I'm very sorry, but you can just imagine a happy ending for Harry and Cho. Funny thing is this was supposed to be three pages long when I started. It's going to be finished by July or not at all. You've all kept me going and I'm grateful. I'll do my best. This is not filler. But I don't think that I captured the essence of Dumbledore very well. Next chapter should be better I hope.
Chapter 56: Questions Answered
Harry slowly walked into the Head Masters office where a disheveled looking Dumbledore stood in tattered gray robes. He had cuts on his face, dark circles had formed under his eyes, and his white hair was in tangles. He slowly limped over to Harry, and gave him a long tight hug. Harry blushed, not really comfortable with such affection from someone who he was still angry with, but managed to lightly pat him on the back. Dumbledore released his embrace on Harry and straitened himself up.
"It's good to see you again Harry. I thought that I would never get to speak to you again, but here we are." Dumbledore said with slightly labored breathing. "Well, let's have a look at you." He said stepping back to observe Harry at length. "You're growing into a fine young man Harry Potter. Already you are wise beyond your years, and been forced to endure things that no boy your age should be forced to endure. But here you are, more the man for it. But there must be a million questions that you have for me, so if you'll have a seat I'll answer all that I can for you, and I'll have a few for you myself." Dumbledore finished motioning harry to the seat in front of his desk. Harry slowly took his seat, and watched Dumbledore limp over to his own behind the desk. Once seated Dumbledore commenced with the pleasantries. Now Harry, can I get you some tea, and perhaps some crunchy frogs to go with it?" Harry gave a sigh.
"No thank you… no tea or candy." Harry said wearily.
"Than perhaps I can get you something else. Would you like some pumpkin juice, or perhaps…"
"I want answers Dumbledore… I want to know why you left me all alone for another summer, and I want to know why you were not a Sirius's funeral. Actually I want to know why there were not a lot of people at his funeral. Come to think of it, I never read about him being exonerated in the paper. Why didn't you tell the Ministry and the Daily Profit about him being innocent?" Harry said raising his tone a bit. Dumbledore sat silently for a moment. He eventually nodded his head and cleared his throat.
"Fair questions Harry… and I will provide you with the best answers that I can. You were left alone again because the occlumency lessons with Snape failed so badly last year, and I have not had time to teach them to you myself. If I would have kept you informed about what was going on over the summer, I feared that Voldermort could have easily picked your brain as to the plans that the Order and I had for him. He would have also known your whereabouts in a place that you could not be fully protected at. The order is small, and I did assign members to watch over you, but I would have had to allocate many more vital resources to your protection that were desperately needed elsewhere at the time. So in order to keep you safe, and the order safe, and to allow more order members to be stationed in Eastern Europe where Voldermort is, I thought it best for you to stay safe at home with your family, where the love of your family would protect you." Dumbledore said in a sincere voice.
"Those people… are not my family, and there is no love between us. I think that you and Voldermort are both wrong about the love protection. If he could not get to me there, than there must be another reason for it. Maybe he was too weak from when he attacked me at my parent's house that night. Whatever it was, it wasn't love, because I can tell you that there has never been one day of my life that anyone in the house on private Drive showed me any bit of love, and vice versa. And if I had to learn occlumency than why didn't you have one of the order members that were watching me teach me how to do it?" Harry asked frustrated.
"Because there was no one else qualified to teach it to you but Professor Snape and myself. It is the same reason that I never taught charms class in school. To be able to learn a skill is one thing, but to be able to teach a skill is quite another. I could not be there because I was hunting down Voldermort and from time to time battling his minions, and you know as well as I what a disaster it would have been to have Severis attempt to teach you again. Another thing Harry, although you believe that there is no love for you from the Dursleys, I can assure you that your aunt does have some for you, though she will never admit it. It was her love specifically that kept you safe all these years. It is not important that you believe it, it just is important that it is so." Dumbledore finished adjusting his glasses.
"Fine, but that still doesn't explain why you were not at Sirius's funeral, or why you didn't have him vindicated for the crimes he was accused of. He was a hero, and he deserved a hero's funeral." Harry said, still upset. Dumbledore closed his eyes, and a tear streamed across his cheek. After a moment he looked back up at Harry.
"Harry… don't you think that I wanted to be there? I watched Sirius and your father grow up in this school. He was a loyal member of the order, and I wanted to be there to say goodbye to him. But… I had to find Voldermort… I've been searching for him since you left last year, fighting his evil minions, all across Hungary, Romania, and several other places in Eastern Europe. There have been battles Harry… battles that you may not know about for a long time. I have made it my personal duty to spend every hour in an attempt to locate Voldermort and finally delay him. At the time we had only just realized a few months before that he had chosen Eastern Europe for his new layer, and had not found him yet." Dumbledore explained, but not to Harry's satisfaction.
"You hadn't even found him yet at the time of Sirius funeral? So what kept you from apparateing, and going to see him for just a couple of hours? That's all it would have taken, just a couple of hours to pay your respects."
"Harry you must understand that I had to be in Eastern Europe at our base of operations to make sure that everything was being managed properly. There is nothing more important than finding and slowing Voldermort down. That's what I was doing."
"You don't think I want him caught… no destroyed? He killed my parents, and he killed Sirius, and he wants to destroy everything that is good about the world. I want him stopped. But I could still take the time to say goodbye to Sirius if I was in your position. For two bloody hours you could have delegated local authority to someone else to be there for him. Have you no faith to trust leadership in other Order members? And why was he not cleared of charges against Wormtail? Why wasn't it splashed over the Daily Profit; Sirius Black Hero Acquitted"? Dumbledore gave a great sigh, and his eyes lowered.
"Perhaps… you are right Harry. Perhaps I have become too obsessive about Voldermort. But I'm only trying to buy you more time, and give you some advantage. You still have things to learn in this school and I know that I must reduce Voldermorts army that he's mounting in force. You see you will be the one to make your final stand against Voldermort according to the prophecy, but when that time comes there will be a larger battle raging around you. Many students form this school I fear will be involved. The Ministry of Magic is still in the process of raising an army as well to stop Voldermort and they must also have time to train more aurors. If you do defeat Voldermort you will be very weakened from the experience, and perhaps even seriously wounded, and if his army ends up winning the larger war than it would be all for not. That is why I've been so obsessed with everything Harry… and perhaps I should have been there for Sirius, and I wasn't… but I can assure you that my intentions were good… it's just something that I'm going to have to live with. And I am sorry for it, but I can assure you that I'm not perfect and I will use bad judgment sometimes like everyone else in the world Muggle or Magic. Now for your next question, why was he not exonerated of any wrong doing. There is a simple and tragic answer for that. There is not yet proof. In fact no one knows that he has in fact died outside of the Death-eaters, and the Order. I cannot reveal everyone who knows the truth without breaking their cover and exposing the Order and everyone in it to more peril. I can only assure you Harry, that when all this is over, everyone will know about Sirius, and he will be given the recognition that he deserved. However… for now… no one would believe us… we didn't capture Wormtail amongst Voldermorts' Death-eaters, and he was the proof that we needed. However it's only a matter of time I can assure you."
"But what about the Quibbler article? They reprinted it in the Daily Prophet. I explained everything about how Wormtail faked his own death." Harry said even more upset. Dumbledore nodded his head.
"True Harry, but Sirius has been infamous for a long time, forever linked with the Dark Lord, even though it wasn't true, and even though you bear witness it will take people time to come around to the fact that he was a hero. But they will come around eventually." Dumbledore finished, pulled out his wand, waved it, and a glass of water appeared on his desk which he took a slow sip out of. Harry just sat there watching him, and processing everything that he was being told in his mind. Dumbledore had given him good reasons for keeping him in the dark on some things, but had admitted that he was wrong not to be at Sirius' funeral. But another part of his question was not yet answered. Harry looked up ad Dumbledore again and spoke in a more calm tone.
"And… why wasn't I at the reading of the will. Why keep me from hearing what Sirius left me?" Harry asked.
"You received a large amount of money in the form of Five hundred thousand gallons, which has been added to your vault at Gringots. He also left you Grimald Place, but there is also another estate that Sirius owned that we could not let you know about… were using it as our Primary base here in the United Kingdom, and if you know where it is that so will Voldermort. I promise that everything about that as well will be revealed to you after all this is over. You must understand Harry I hate keeping so much from you, but that's the way things are in war. Not fair. You'll just have to take things on faith that I'm doing the best I can for you and for other people as well. In the end Voldermort can reach you anywhere but here and your relative's house." Dumbledore finished, and took another sip of water. At these last words from Dumbledore Harry sat quietly and reflected on his school year since he had returned to Hogwarts. About the Quidditch game, where ha almost killed Cindy Miggins, about the threats that he made against Padma Patel and Allen Miller, and about how he could only remember the events in nightmares that he had suffered through the next night. Finally he reflected on the last nightmare that he had; the one about him killing Padma with the Bogart, and the horrible death that she suffered. Harry looked up at Dumbledore again. I'm not safe here from Voldermort either… if you had summoned me before now I could have told you." Harry said in monotone. Dumbledore raised an eyebrow.
"What… what do you mean Harry?"
"Someone's been possessing me. It's Voldermort. It hast to be him, or at least someone who is working for him, or with him, and he's been causing me to go off on other students. I can't control my body at the time, it almost cost a girl her life, and…" Harry stopped. He didn't want to tell Dumbledore about the nightmare that he had about Padma, not because he didn't think that Dumbledore could be trusted to keep it in confidence, but because he was afraid that saying it might make it come true. Dumbledore set up striate in his chair, and Harry could tell that he was even more attentive than before.
"I see, and… is that why you attacked the students on the train as well Harry?" Dumbledore asked. Harry lowered his head.
"No sir, that was me and my hatred for those sons of Death Eaters, but there were a lot of other incidents that occurred that I had no control over. I would not remember it until I had a nightmare about it the next night." Harry said plainly. Dumbledore raised an eyebrow.
"Please continue Harry." Dumbledore insisted. Harry looked up at Dumbledore again.
"First there was the Quidditch match, well what happened with that was…" Harry began, but Dumbledore held up his hand to stop him.
"Please excuse me Harry, but I've already heard you explain that… I should have said, but please go on about the other incidents. I'm sorry I should have been more specific." Dumbledore apologized. Harry gave his Head Master a surprised look.
"What do you mean you already heard me explain that? You were not even there." Harry said with no malice.
"Do you remember the glowing blue orb that Professor McGonagall had on her desk when you and Mr. Wheasley visited her office to explain about the match?" Dumbledore asked. Harry reflected for a minute, and then nodded remembering that she had produced a glowing blued sphere. It had seemed rather insignificant at the time.
"That was a recording device, which we use, as a Muggle might use a digital camera. I'll show you Harry." Dumbledore reached into his desk drawer and pulled out the orb. He sat it on the table, and waved his hand around the orb, it faded in color form a light blue to a dark one, and back. Before the tow of them small blue tone see-though images appeared before them of Harry, Ron and Professor McGonagall. The figures played out the scene just as it had happened that day when Harry and Ron had played the practice match against the Huffelpuffs. The only thing different was that the voices were squeaky, and you could barely tell the difference between who was speaking if you were not watching their mouths as they spoke.
"I see." Harry said. "Ok, about the second incident… I threatened Allen Miller and Padma Patel. Again I don't remember doing it, or at least I didn't remember doing it at the time, but I remembered it in a dream later. I'm sure that I know what is going on. There have been some strange happenings at this school over the summer, and since I have returned. From what I have learned from Sir Nicholas and Cho Chang, as well as my own experience I can tell you that Draco Malfoy, and his lot are involved, as well as a girl named Marietta Edgecombe. I'm sure that it's Draco that's been impersonation me using Polly-juice potion. I'm equally sure that Miss Edgecombe is working with him. " Harry finished. Dumbledore leaned forward in his chair, with sincere interest in Harry's news.
"You… you threatened Padma Patel Harry? When was this?!" Dumbledore asked in a nervous tone. Harry lowered his eyes.
"It was just a couple of days before she went missing. I didn't remember it at the time, but, I later dreamed about it. But I'm sure it was really Malfoy, and maybe I was knocked out or something. I'm not sure where I was. Just regular classes that day, and I went to Filches office for detention, at one point. I barely remember any part of that day actually. But as I said I'm sure Malfoy and his lot are behind it.
"You really think Mr. Malfoy is involved? I've been having Professor Snape keep a close eye on him, and the other children of known Death Eaters. I thought that there may be certain circumstances around him that might lead us to Voldermorts location, or at least give us a hint of what his plan is, but we've found nothing so far. As far as Miss Edgecombe is concerned, well, I've come to recently find that she has some prejudice towards non-purebloods, but I have nothing to indicate that she has had any dealings with Mr. Malfoy, and his associates." Dumbledore said with genuine surprise. Harry scoffed.
"Well there's the problem right there isn't it? You should not trust him. I wouldn't be surprised if he was in on it too. In fact it would make perfect sense for Voldermort to need an Adult to cover up for Malfoy. It would especially make sense that it would be one of the masters."
"Harry that's enough. I can assure you that Professor Snape is doing everything in his power to work toward defeating the Death Eaters, and protect the students of this school, despite the way that he feels about you… and you feel about him. He assures me that he has kept Mr. Malfoy and his friends under close supervision, and they have done nothing to warrant suspicion up until now."
"Then it hasn't been close enough, and I still don't trust him." You should have seen how he acted in dueling class. He is the one who needs to be kept under observation." Harry said his voice raising slightly.
"That is enough Harry. Severis has my complete trust, and I will here no more unfounded accusations about him. Now… please, is there anything else that you wish to discuss with me?" Dumbledore asked. Harry thought for a moment about everything that Sir Nicolas, and Cho had told him went on over the summer, and everything that had happened since he had returned to school. He considered everything, and then decided that he did indeed have more to tell Dumbledore. Harry raised his head to look at Dumbledore.
"Are you aware that Marietta Edgecombe was here over the summer?" Harry asked. Dumbledore raised an eyebrow.
"I am aware of that. I was surprised to find that she was Fiche's niece. His she came here with his twin brother over the summer, though she is actually related by his sister. To be honest Mr. Filch has surprised me rather a lot this year. I was not aware that Miss Edgecombe was his niece, or that he had a twin brother. But now that I reflect on it, Mr. Filch has always been a private person ever since I've known him. And I've never pressed him for his family history because of it." Dumbledore finished. Maybe you should have. His room is ghost proofed, and his twin brother and Marietta did it. Also… there is a second bewitched room in the castle, By the tapestry of Helga Huffelpuff. I thought that it was Malfoy again, but now that I think about it, it could have been Marietta Edgecombe, though I wouldn't be surprised if it were on his orders." Harry stated.
"A second bewitched room? I was not aware of that… what was in it?" Dumbledore asked.
"Well… nothing really, but it is suspicious, and Cho Chang did hear Marietta talking to someone about it earlier in the year, so maybe you should ask her about it. Cho says that she believes that Marietta is up to something. Marietta was the one who betrayed the DA last year, and she was one of the people who were handing out pamphlets to that society thing at Hogs-mead. I went to the area that they held the rally at. I saw Cho… I saw Cho Chang there. I thought that she was a part of it all, because she was on the wrong part of the barricades, and another girl said that she was a guest speaker… but now I don't think she was involved. She said that Marietta Edgecombe was there, and that she was a big part of it. What is the Society all about?"
"I see, I certainly will look into the society again Harry, I've already made it known to them that I'm keeping an eye on them. Harry do you remember my speech in the great hall when I talked about when the society that was having a rally in Hogsmeade this year?" Harry nodded.
"I went there myself to try and convince the leader of the organization to go away, and take his detestable views with him. Of course there was nothing that I could legally do to get them to leave, but I thought that I would try anyway. The organization is led by a former student that I had the displeasure of teaching. His name is Ian Watson, and he fancies himself a professor… though I doubt if you could ever find a wizarding school that would ever give him a degree. Many years ago, before even your parents attended this school he had founded this racist organization to attempt to get the non-pureblood students out of the school. He generated much hatred for the Muggle-born amongst the purebloods in the school. Unfortunately for a while he was able to turn many of the students of pureblood to his favor. You see it was different time, and though his heart was evil, Mr. Watson possessed a great charisma that drew people in. At first he was not so direct about his hatred seeking only segregation from the half-bloods, and Muggle-borne, but soon after when he had pulled them in a little deeper, and started promoting expulsion of all non-purebloods, eventually after a time he would… suggest that the non purebloods needed to be gotten rid of permanently, though he never openly endorsed murder. You know Harry, there used to be another building, where the green houses now reside. The Hogwarts Auxiliary building. It was used by various school organizations, for things like choir, and the Yule ball and… even private student organizations… like the Society for Truth Uniformity Purity, and Domination."
"Why did you let an organization like that exist at this school?" Harry asked surprised.
"I was not at the time Head Master and… as I said… it was a different time. I kept his little society at bay, by restricting them to the building, and cautioning the other students about the wrongs of hatred towards others. Eventually some students; half-blood and Muggle-borne, started to show up at hospital with some rather nasty jinxes on them. They couldn't remember what had happened to them… obvious memory charms. No one could prove at the time that it was the society, but I knew it was Watson and his lot. I worked some spells over the next summer.
That was the summer that I was informed that I would be Head Master for the next school year. When the next year came I was able to more severely restrict the society. Watson grew tired of the limits at which he could bully the non purebloods, but he was still able to cause enough friction between everyone even as I made legal maneuvers to stop him. Eventually more members of the Society spent more and more time at the Auxiliary building, and many other students organizations started holding there meetings in other parts of the school. One day the Auxiliary building burned to the ground, and Watson was quick to blame the Muggle-borne students against him. Some circumstantial evidence was left pointing towards Muggle-borne. Watson, thinking that there would be no further investigation after the masters fond the false evidence against the other students, began trying to rally the purebloods against the others… pointing out that they had burned down the building trying to deprive the purebloods of the organization that was set up to protect them from Muggle borne, and half blood aggression. But he didn't know about the spells that I had conjured to the castle. I was able to walk over the burned out ruins of the Auxiliary building, and recreate the scene from the night that it had burned just as if it were happening in real time. Watson had his wand broken, his broom taken away, was exiled from the United Kingdom, and never allowed to use magic again, and the same for his organization. All students who had been members with him were forced to disavow the society, or be expelled. Watson was not even allowed to fly a broom. I thought that I had seen the last of him, and his lot, but now I found that idiots in the Ministry have let him back in, and I can assure you that he has not wised up to his… his wrongful views. "Much of my time now is spent still on Voldermort, but I can assure you that I am sparing some time to watch the society. For now they seem to be following the parameters of the law, but the instant they step out of line I'm going to have them kicked out of the UK, and work to get the rest of the wizarding world to banish the organization as well.
Oh there is another thing. When I went to the rally at Hogsmead I saw Miss. Chang fighting with a girl. She, that is Miss Chang was then attacked by two society wizards. I blocked some spells that they cast at her and relieved them of their wands. I too was curious to know what she was doing there at first. However I found that the answers were satisfactory enough. I still felt that she was hiding something's, but I probed her mind just enough to know that she had no malicious intent in doing so. I would have probed further, but I didn't feel that it warranted violating her privacy. In my opinion occlumency is very privacy violating, and I don't use it unless I feel it is absolutely necessary. That is one way that I've been keeping taps on the suns of Death Eaters here, and since Voldermort knows I'm able to I suspect that that is why he has not contacted any of them, unless he has found a way around it. Which I doubt he has. In any event. I'm sure that Miss Chang is not in league with the society as well. I will however have a talk with Miss Edgecombe soon. Now getting onto other things Harry, is there anything else you need to tell me about, anything at all. I want to know if you've felt Voldermort in your scar. Harry concentrated hard for a moment. Finally talking with Dumbledore and getting it all out was starting to calm him down, but he was still thinking hard on Padma Patel and the nightmare that he had had a few nights before. Should I tell him? God, if I say it I feel that it might make it come true. She's been missing for days, and I can't think that this should be any different from the other nightmares that I had that came true. But then again, I've been having this one much more often. Even if I tell him about it, I have no proof that it's real. I won't not until I can find more proof. I've got to find out what happened myself. Harry looked up at Dumbledore.
"No sir, nothing else, except that I don't want you hiding things from me anymore. You have to keep in contact with me, and…" Dumbledore raised a hand to stop Harry in mid sentence, and looked up quickly towards the door.
"One moment Harry, the masters are at the door." Dumbledore said urgently. The doors then burst open, and Professor's McGonagall and Snape both burst in at a run. Snape had panic on his face, and McGonagall a tear in her eye. Snape approached Dumbledore and spoke in labored breathing, as if he had just played an intense game of Quidditch.
"Head Master… you must come… with us at once." Snape said out of breath.
"Severus, what is it?"Dumbledore asked concerned.
"It's the Patel girl Dumbledore. We think we've found her … she's… she's…" Snape hesitated.
"What do you mean you think you've found her? Is she alright Severus?" Dumbledore queried nervously." The two professors shook their heads. McGonagall dried her eyes with a hanky. Snape composed himself long enough to speak properly.
"We found… a body, of a student. That is unrecognizable, in a storage room. You would have to see, you will have to see for your self. You must come quickly." Snape insisted. Dumbledore jumped to his feet.
"Harry you must come with us. Severus, please lead the way." Dumbledore asked as thee four of them rushed out of the head Masters office.