For disclaimer and author notes please see chapter 1.
1990-02-25 15:30 UTC, The Lovegood Home
Of course, there were objections.
Sirius jumped in head-first. "Why do you want him here? Isn't it enough what we think he did. So yeah, we can't prove it or retaliate in any way, and that I understand, but why are we cosying up to him?"
Remus also looked to be in the same mood, but he didn't say anything. He was thinking.
Surprisingly, it was Hermione that stepped forward, while Hobby gave her a very fond smile of encouragement.
"We kids don't know the whole story that you do, but we have Luna with us, so let's not under-estimate how much we know", she started with a grin.
"Whatever it is that may have happened, it seems apparent that it was because of Dumbledore not knowing what really was going on, not caring to find out, and not caring even that there were people who knew more than he did. Is that close enough?"
Sirius and Remus looked at Hobby. "Just what exactly have you been telling the kids?", they asked in an accusing tone.
Hobby held up his hands, palms forward. "Nothing much at all, really. I'm actually vaguely surprised Hermione managed to come this far in her reading of the problem. Even with Luna's help".
Hermione would not let them change focus. "Look, it doesn't matter how we know. We know, and we know quite a bit. But back to what I was saying... assuming I was right, Dumbledore needs to know that this problem has been solved. Do you want to be in a situation where, not knowing this has happened, he does whatever it is he did to Hobby earlier? Perversely, I'm willing to bet it'll be worse than what happened to Hobby. There, he had his Harry firmly under his control, so there was no need for any extreme measures. Here, he doesn't, and won't. And he knows it. What if he does something much more aggressive than we ever imagined? Do you think I will stand by and let him do anything that might hurt Harry?"
Harry was already standing next to her and already had his right arm wrapped around her, so he just pulled her a wee bit closer, with a soft smile.
Oh yeah, things are going just as I was hoping, grinned Hobby to himself.
Luna took up the argument. "All we want is to make sure Dumbledore knows that Harry has no trace of anything in his scar. We need to reduce his interest in Harry as much as possible, and in as many ways as possible".
"I intend to be as unobtrusive as I can during my years there", said Harry. "I have no wish to be 'challenged' in any way, in any year, more than any other student. And if that means we get Dumbledore off my back in one very important aspect today, then so be it. He can't do anything to me here, with all of you around!"
Sirius looked at Nick and Penny.
"Makes sense. We should have thought of it ourselves, if I were to be honest with myself", said Nick.
"The only question that remains is, should we stay or disappear?" said Penny.
The ancient - albeit not ancient looking - couple looked at each other for a few seconds, then turned to the group.
"If it's all the same to you all, we'll go back home. I'm sure the Phantom is more than capable of handling any unexpected overtures from our erstwhile student and friend".
Hobby nodded. Penny gave a massive hug to Harry, kissed him on both cheeks and on the top of his head, then did the same to Pandora, and then Luna. Meanwhile, Nick was tousling Harry's bird's nest of hair, and softly telling him something - probably words of encouragement?
Penny had, by then, turned to Hermione and given her an extra long hug. "I never told you this, dear, but I am sooo glad he met you, Hermione. You are so good for our Harry in so many ways, I can't tell you how happy I am that you are his friend", she whispered into her ear, while Hermione blushed at the praise.
Harry, meanwhile, looked half-pleadingly at Penny. "I wish you could stay, but I know it's not a good idea", he sighed.
"You know, I've been thinking about this. Why exactly do you need to go? What are we worried about?", said Hobby.
"Well, we did discuss this once, a long time ago", said Penny. "If Dumbledore connects us with you, Sirius, Remus, and Harry, he will also connect us with almost everything that has happened in Harry's life so far. Some of which, it will then become clear to him, we had a hand in." Although she was not saying it, the main point was the imperious potion used on Snape to get him out of the school and away from his influence.
"Umm, why? As far as he knows, I am an extremely powerful wizard. I am more powerful than him, and he has seen my power. Why can't I be the third person in England who could brew that potion? It's not as if he would test me!"
"Fourth person you mean?"
"I said in England. You have been in France all along, and you came by just last week because your god-daughter asked you to visit, for reasons of her own".
"Oh that's very neat!" She looked at Harry. "The only thing is you can't call me 'Aunt Penny' or get too familiar, if we met only today"
Harry was fine with that. "If that's the price to pay to have you around when my scar is being fixed, I'll take it", he said.
"So... do the kids know each other?" asked Hobby.
"Yes. We contacted Sirius when my experiments were looking to be almost done, and the kids have been getting together off and on ever since", said Pandora.
"How should we interact with him?"
"Here's my plan", said Hobby...
1990-02-25 16:15 UTC, Hogwarts, headmaster's office
Dumbledore jerked his head in alarm at the sudden intrusion. Truly, he had never known of a wizard who could apparate into his sanctum sanctorum, his highly warded office inside a just as highly warded castle. Nor could he explain how this annoying wizard was doing it, so he was not much more than a spectator.
"We need you to come with me right away. There is something you need to see and understand", he said to the stunned old man.
"Where?"
"The Lovegood residence".
"What? What do the Lovegoods have to do with anything?"
"It's about young Potter's scar".
Dumbledore snapped upright in a jerk. "What about Harry's scar? And how do the Lovegoods know him?"
"That's Mr. Potter to you, Dumbledore. I'm well aware of your special brand of false familiarity. You presume too much!"
"And you're side-stepping the question", said Dumbledore. Which Hobby was, indeed!
"True, but I won't lose any sleep over it. You can ask all your questions once we get there. And you do know I could simply take you there without informing you at all, don't you? Now stop wasting my time and come along". He held out his arm for the headmaster to grab, and popped away.
1990-02-25 16:20 UTC, The Lovegood Home
The Phantom and Dumbledore entered the lab from the side door, having apparated to the open space in the front and walked around.
Dumbledore looked around the lab - it was quite crowded. The three Lovegoods of course, and he had expected Sirius and Remus to be present because Harry was. But he did not recognise the bushy-haired young girl standing very close to Harry, hugging him from the side (and he her). And were those two... muggles?... behind Remus?
"What is going on here? What are you doing with Harry's scar? You are playing a dangerous game, my dear Pand-"
"She is not your dear anything. You will address her as Mrs Lovegood", said a familiar voice from behind him. Familiar, but so sharp, so cold, he stumbled in turning around to face the clearly angry woman.
"Penny!", he exclaimed. "And Nick! It is so nice to see you both again, although I did not know you were in England".
"We were not. But when Pandora found her theories confirmed and saw that it was time to remove the horcrux from Harry's scar" - here Dumbledore paled - "she called us over, just in case we could be of any help. We've been in England for at least a few days now", said Penny.
Nick did not let him respond. "Are you going to tell us we, too, are playing a very dangerous game, my dear Albus?" (No one missed the subtle emphasis on the last three words, nor that they were clearly meant as sarcasm).
Dumbledore sighed. "I sense far too much anger from you, my old friends. What have I done to offend you? We haven't even spoken for decades!"
"What we have read of how you have carried the weight of your years and power, over the last few years, is sufficient. You are not the Albus I trained, the Albus we be-friended. You have grown far more arrogant than I would have imagined", said Nick.
Like a one-two punch, Penny spoke without letting Dumbledore get a word in. "Is it true that you have been legilimencing minors, even pre-teen children?"
With the Phantom standing right behind him, he could not even deny it. He hung his head for a moment, sighed, and looked at the ancient couple with a much-put-upon expression.
"Some of the things I have to do, I do not like, but they are often-"
Penny again interrupted him. (She seems to be particularly angry with me, thought Dumbledore. I need to figure out why) "I hope you're not going to say 'the greater good', because if you do, I will personally throw you into Nurmengard so you can bunk with your old friend", she said, her voice dripping disgust and anger.
"Clearly, there is more at play here than what you have said. What you have read in the newspapers about me, even if embellished by Sirius and Remus and this" - he pointed dismissively in Hobby's direction - "Phantom, could not be so bad."
"Listen you sanctimonious son-of-a-", started Sirius, only to be interrupted. "Sirius!", screamed Hermione, at the same time as her mother said "Language, Sirius!".
Smoothly, Sirius continued. "Let me remind you what I said in court one day: you left a child to be abused by his magic-hating relatives, denied him his rights, sealed his parents' wills, and left his godfather to rot in prison. Do not think that the House of Black or the House of Potter will ever forget - as far as we are concerned you got away far too lightly. You should be in the cell I was in, for at least the same amount of time. Just for a start".
Pandora stepped in too. "The Lovegoods are with Harry and Sirius on this. Let's be clear about this: you were invited, or rather forced to come here, because we want there to be absolutely no doubt in your mind that a certain problem you have recognised, but refused to do anything about, is now solved."
They were all laying into him. Penny picked up the rant. "We are doing this not only to protect Harry from any future shenanigans from you, especially once he starts school, but - in a way, considering what you used to mean to us decades ago - to protect you from the inevitable reaction of Sirius, Remus, and the Phantom".
Nick now. "Make no mistake, Albus. What we have seen of these three adults over the last week or so, makes us truly afraid for your very life, if you attempted anything against young Harry. That is when we decided that you needed to be here for this."
Dumbledore deflated. They were not even allowing him to speak - Pandora had already started leading Harry to a special chair he had not paid any attention to, till now.
He made one last ditch attempt. "By doing this, we risk warning him that his horcruxes are in danger, and he will come back sooner. You can not do this!"
"Oh you'd be surprised what I can do if I set my mind to it", grinned Hobby, turning away from the old man and focusing his attention on the chair where Pandora was working on Harry.
The procedure took less than ten minutes. Only Penny, and perhaps Nick, understood what precisely Pandora was doing. Dumbledore had had too many shocks today, not least that Pandora even knew how to remove a soul piece from a living container. At one point, he looked at Penny, and Penny, reading the question in his face, mouthed "unspeakable" to him.
Aah, that explained a lot, he thought.
The Phantom had seen this, so he tapped Dumbledore on the arm. "Lily was one too", he said blandly.
Dumbledore had to look for a chair and sit down.
Once the ritual was over, Penny and Nick carefully supervised while Dumbledore examined Harry and convinced himself that there was no more of the dark residue within his scar. Nodding to himself, he then looked up at his audience and said "yes; it is gone. Completely".
"And yet, left to your devices, Harry would have lived with this for pretty much the rest of his life. And you weren't expecting it to be a long life, were you?", asked the Phantom with a shrewd glance at him.
Dumbledore swallowed, and made no reply. The "greater good" would not work - that way lay Nurmengard; a threat he did not take lightly, coming as it did from such a powerful witch. One that seemed to bear him extraordinary, and inexplicable, ill-will right now.
The Phantom continued. "Let us lay things out for you once again. I do recall saying something like this to you once, when we caught you legilimencing children, but the situation is different now - Harry's scar is gone, or will be, soon. My warning to you is this: do not speak to Harry, do not approach Harry, do not interfere with Harry, do not attempt to influence his choices in school, like forcing him into divination classes, and most of all do not play games with his, or the other children's safety. The consequences will not be pleasant, and they will almost certainly require an extended stay in St Mungos for you".
"And that goes for Hermione, Luna, and Neville too".
This reminded Dumbledore of something he had meant to ask. "I suppose this young lady is Hermione. Might I know your last name, my dear?", he smiled at her.
Truly, this man had no shame, or at least could suppress it completely at will. He'd have made an excellent huckster.
"Like Mrs Flamel said about Aunt Pandora, I am not your 'dear'? My last name is Granger, and I prefer to be as formal with you as possible, so that's Ms Granger to you, headmaster".
"And you are a muggle-born?" She had to be. Most magical raised children had more respect for him than this. (Or so he liked to think; one could never be really sure, after the trials and other revelations a few years ago).
"Yes".
Dumbledore turned to Nick and Penny. "Was it wise to bring muggles to witness this procedure? What if there had been a reaction or a backlash? Was that not too much of a risk, over and above the risk of warning Voldemort his horcruxes were in danger?"
The two muggles in question had all this time been leaning against the wall. The lady casually moved away from the wall and approached him.
"Headmaster Dumbledore. Just a word of warning from a 'muggle'. It's not just the adults in Harry's life you need to be careful about. Harry has made several good friends in these years, and two of his best friends are right here. One is a seer who can see through you as if you were a pane of glass - she probably knows what devilry you're planning before you think of it. The other, my daughter, has been fiercely protective of her first friend ever since she met him, and she is vindictive as hell. Cross either of these two witches at your peril. It would be an unequal fight, unless you started a magical duel or something".
It went without saying that Dumbledore's reputation, what little was left of it anyway, would be totally shattered if he went that far with students under his care.
"As for the risk of warning Voldemort by destroying his horcruxes", the Phantom cut in. "We've been over this last year, in April. I do not think you are right; in fact I know you are wrong. We have already destroyed at least one, and he hasn't come back. And that was way back when Sirius was released from Azkaban".
"No thanks to you on the release, by the way", snarked Sirius.
But Dumbledore did not hear him. His eyes were round and big, and it looked like he would have a fit of some kind. "You did WHAT? You cannot do that, you don't know enough about all these things, you haven't seen-"
Nick wanted to jump in, but they had sort of painted themselves into a corner in terms of when exactly they had met Harry and Sirius and the rest of the gang. So they just watched silently.
"Actually, it is you who is creating a risk, by not making any attempts to even collect them! Do you even know how many he made?"
"Yes I do. But my source is not available to you, so I doubt you would know", smirked Dumbledore.
Hobby thought fast. In his world, Dumbledore had no idea until Harry had wheedled it out of Slughorn. Nothing he had done should have changed that, unless...
"How long have you known?" he asked Dumbledore.
"A few months". Dumbledore did not see any harm in letting that information out.
So, around the time we started poking around the Gaunt shack, thought Hobby. It made sense.
He debated whether to shock the old man once again, then decided to go for it.
"What did Slughorn get out of you in return for the information?", he smirked.
AN: sorry folks; it's a little shorter than my norm. Some personal problems have left me with far too little time.