Chapter 79 - Heart of the Matter
Diagon Alley was in chaos. So was Hogsmeade and every other area where wizards and witches lived. The lunch rush had been replaced by madness with thousands of magical people rushing around.
The Daily Prophet had put out a special edition right after the battle ended with the headline shouting like Quidditch scores:
LIFEGUARDS 1139 - VOLDEMORT 50
The front page described the 'daring, brilliant attack on Malfoy Manor, the last bastion of the Death Eaters in Britain' and how Harry Potter had led the Lifeguards' assault on their base. Page two was devoted to the efforts of the Ministry's witches and wizards in the battle, with nearly half of the page praising the quick thinking and courage of Shacklebolt. His distraction had turned the tide of their side of the battle and would have led to the Ministry's forces being able to bolster the Lifeguards if the Death Eaters' own reinforcements, including the fallen terrorist Voldemort himself, hadn't arrived at just that moment.
The paper went on to say that every Death Eater present had been captured or killed in the battle. It went on to point out that this was the single largest battle in Wizarding Britain in centuries, as well as the single greatest one-sided victory the country had seen in even longer.
It also explained that a number of the dead were landowners in Diagon Alley and elsewhere and as a result of their treasonous actions, their property was forfeit and a portion might go to the people who helped execute the traitors.
Wizards from up and down the country flooded the paper's office to ask questions. A list of casualties wasn't ready, and would be provided by the Lily Potter Foundation and Ministry when it was. Concerned relatives could enquire with either organization, however.
Narcissa Malfoy struggled through the crowds outside to read the notice, then turned immediately away. 'They may be exaggerating the disparity in casualties. They have to be, surely! But even if they are, it's obvious that that monster lost. If there had been the slightest chance of his success, surely he would have come down here and destroyed the place!'
The likely widowed witch knew her husband all too well. If he was alive and well, he would have been driven to rage like his master, cursing anyone he could. His absence told her that it was almost certain that he was dead or captured and she didn't know which she truly preferred. Thankfully for her own survival, her glamours held up to the scrutiny of those around her on the crowded street as she made her way to Bewitched.
"Greetings, how may I help you?" The polite but welcoming tones of the staff here put her a little more at ease.
In spite of her upbringing, Cissy found herself at home surrounded by these supposedly lowborn girls rather than at Malfoy Manor with the trappings of pureblood wealth. And that brought her back almost painfully to one important question. 'What is going to happen to me?'
"Ah, Madame Baudin, I have an appointment." Cissy ducked behind a row of summer dresses out of sight of the other customers and dropped her glamour.
"Ah, indeed, Mrs- Cissy," Angelique corrected herself at the look, "right this way. He is expecting you. We were worried about you. We know you wouldn't be one of them but it was your home. I can't imagine being forced to share my home with such monsters..."
Cissy let the French witch's words flow over her, washing away a little of her fears with the normality of it as they headed out the back of the shop floor to the private fitting area. There, waiting for her, was Harry Potter.
"Is that really you? The paper said you were leading the Lifeguards into battle. How in Merlin's name could you do that? Are you alright?" The questions spilled from her mouth before she could stop them and she saw Angelique out of the corner of her eye give a small smile at her concern for the man before her.
"It's me." Simple words but they stopped her mouth with a snap.
Angelique gently guided the other witch to undress for her massage while Harry quickly and quietly set up the table for her to lay on. Soon, Cissy was face down on the table and those wonderful fingers of Harry's were descending. Automatically she felt herself relaxing and anticipating the pleasure to come.
While Harry's hands were working out the tension in her body, Cissy's mind was still going around in circles. She knew she wasn't one of Voldemort's Inner Circle, branded like cattle, but neither was she one of Dumbledore's pet wizards in the 'Light'. With the demise of her husband and the rest of those uncouth animals, not to mention whatever destruction had been wreaked upon her home, she needed protection, a sanctuary. 'Maybe...'
"Is there another way out of here?" Cissy asked out of the blue between her groans and sighs.
"I'm sorry?" Harry asked politely. While there was indeed another exit to the shop, it was hardly something they would share with just anyone.
Cissy groaned again as Harry's fingers dug into her upper back then spoke again. "I wondered, is there a way out of this for me. You are the owner of the Lily Potter Foundation. If you offered to protect me, no one could touch me but you. I mean, if you gave me sanctuary."
Harry shook his head with a grin. He was sure she didn't mean to say it that way but it was a testament to the stress she was feeling, and to his skills as a masseur, that the walls on her speech had fallen so far. Still, there were rules to these sorts of things and he was curious.
Pausing his ministrations and moving where she could see him, Harry gave the witch a considering look to show he understood the gravity of what she was asking. "You know, that is a serious request and one not to be granted lightly. Perhaps we could find a way to iron out my legitimate concerns at the prospect of granting sanctuary despite Minister Bones' understandable zeal for punishing all of the Dark Lord's supporters?"
Appreciating the young man's caution, Cissy responded immediately to make a deal. "I can provide testimony. I will give testimony as to everything I know about them. Their trials will go easier with my help."
"That is something you should provide anyway as a good citizen. It is also in your self-interest to be cooperative with the Ministry when you consider the charges they are likely to make against you."
Cissy nodded in defeat, mind racing. "I don't trust the Ministry." She admitted it flatly. "With the glaring exception of the current Minister, they've been a string of corrupt and incompetent fools and the rest of the people there haven't been much better. After the deaths of so many Aurors, the survivors in the DMLE are going to be out for revenge and what better target for them than the Pureblood wife of the Death Eater who played host to the Dark Lord for the last two years?"
"All of that tells me why you need sanctuary." Harry replied mildly, sure she would get the hint.
"I can pay for my accommodations. Until their trials are over, the Death Eaters' fortunes are still theirs. If someone were to approach the goblins with the keys to their vaults, those fortunes would be accessible to those with an interest, shall we say."
"And just how would I get hold of those keys?"
"One of the delightful habits of my deceased husband, he is deceased isn't he?"
"That would be a safe assumption." Harry replied, lying only a little. While Lucius was still technically alive and a prisoner for now, his death was only a matter of time.
"Oh good. As I was saying, one of his habits was to leave control of the finances to me. He had never really had a head for figures and the training in keeping the books was one of the key skills that allowed my family to retain our wealth from generation to generation. On our union, he was all too happy to leave the drudgery to me after he made cursory checks of my work and saw nothing to concern him."
"And how does that lead to you-"
"Getting hold of Death Eaters' vaults? Well, I mentioned one or two dozen times to my husband how the parties and feasts were creating a terrible drain on our finances. At first, he went out and did whatever he did to bring in money, which helped, but soon the Dark Lord's missions and the training of the recruits made him unable to do it any more. The Dark Lord ordered that the wealthier of his Death Eaters turn over a key to their vaults to Lucius so they could share the glorious burden of supporting the cause."
"And Lucius turned them over to you?"
"Yes. It only took a little 'directed encouragement' before he turned them over to me as they came in."
"So you have access to all this money. Why did you stay?"
"I'm sorry?"
"Why didn't you leave? You could have crippled them in an afternoon."
"I couldn't leave. They would have come after me. Over a thousand of the most depraved animals commanded by their Dark Lord, they all knew what I looked like. Each one would have competed to torture me for their sick master until death released me, and maybe not even then! And besides, it was my home! Why should I be the one to leave?"
"So you were trapped with the thought of torture?" Harry said quietly to himself, intentionally bringing the thoughts to the witch's mind then digging his fingers in deeper to work at the knots his words created.
"Merlin, yes!" Cissy almost screamed as Harry set about turning the witch to a relaxed puddle of pleasure.
"Very well, I will consider your proposal. You may have sanctuary until we make our decision."
The Alliance had discussed what to do after the battle, should it go their way. One of the more contentious topics was the witch under him right then. The eventual consensus was that if she came in and made a decent offer, they would allow her sanctuary. One thing they wouldn't do, though, was use their power to get her off the charges against her.
Cissy's offer, one she sweetened with the offer to do anything for them once she was coherent again, went far past their requirements. Best of all for everyone, her turning Crown witness would speed up the trials as she testified to the crimes of so many 'upstanding members of society'. There would be no doubt after this that the Pureblood dogma was so much crap. Tom Riddle had gathered Pureblood supremacists from across Europe for his uprising and already Harry's clones had found Death Eaters from just about every European country among their captives.
The trials' coverage would highlight the tortures, the murders and barbarism of these self-declared superior beings. Through official channels and through Alliance connections, the coverage would make the front pages of papers on the Continent. They needed to discredit the bankrupt philosophy thoroughly and this would do just that by the time they were done.
Harry was brought out of his musings by a genteel hug from the normally reserved woman.
"Thank you so much, Harry Potter. Where should I go from here?"
Harry guided the now fully dressed witch out to the employees' entrance before slapping a pair of handcuffs on Mrs Malfoy. He grinned at her shock and the beginnings of her outrage as he activated the summoning technique that took them to the arrivals point at the Kitsune Compound. While she was recovering from the shock of transport that was entirely unlike any of the magical means, he removed the magic-suppressing handcuffs. They were no longer needed now that they had protected her from any chakra backlash. She was still regaining her bearings as he guided the compliant woman to a guesthouse that stood empty for her use.
Inside, she took the seat provided and leaned back when her sister Andromeda came in with a bottle of Veritaserum. Her last thoughts before the potion took over were of relief and a desire to reconnect to her sister. It was obvious that Andromeda had made the better choice all those years ago.
Outside the shop, a pale boy with an amateurish glamour over his features waited in vain for his disguised mother to exit so he could demand to know what she was doing. He had followed her in secret to this shop with his two followers, wanting to catch her red-handed in whatever it was that had required to enter such a Muggle shop under a glamour. She had been acting strange of late and he was afraid she would do something to betray the family name. An hour later, with his companions complaining and his feet sore from the unaccustomed exercise, he gave it up as a failure.
It was like so much of his life lately and he left unaware that his mother was still inside and enjoying Harry Potter's hands on her. Ordering them to follow him with a glare, he strode off to a dark alley and out of sight. There, he Apparated away to the secret lair he had made of the last Muggle home he and his father had cleansed of the filth. His father's Muggle-repelling charms had kept the filth away and the Ministry Department that should have been monitoring had long turned a blind eye.
Draco had sent Vincent and Gregory out to buy a lot of food with the aid of Malfoy money and a glamour. Apart from the lack of food, the Muggle facilities were adequate to keep body and soul together. While they were busy with that, Draco Malfoy plotted and planned to turn this latest development into an advantage.
He tried in vain, as when night fell at last, he was still sitting with his legs crossed and a childish pout on his pointed face. The three teenagers were unable to make the lights work, since the power had been cut off months ago so they ate their dinner while it was still light then went to bed early.
Draco had ordered them not to use their magic, as he would not take a chance on any magic use setting off an alarm in the Ministry. Sulking and angry at his lot in life, he went to the master bedroom and glowered in the darkness before finally falling asleep.
The Kitsune Clan, naturally enough, were throwing a party.
Of their Lifeguards, all of them who had been in the battle were present. For the first time, they had only one duty that night, to attend the party and try to have a good time as everyone celebrated their victory.
The Jewels' families were there in force, attentive to their girls' every need in the aftermath of combat. Though the families were far from happy that their loved ones had put themselves to even that low risk, they were far too grateful to have them back. While the girls had never been in real danger, no one was happy that they'd seen, heard and smelled the horrors of a real battle. Now was a time for healing and celebration.
And celebration is exactly what the Jewels had on their minds. While each of them had a clone with their families, and almost all of them had a clone out with the massive party the Clan was throwing, mixing with friends and allies and having a good time, the real Jewels were having their own private celebration with Harry and many of his clones.
Michelle and Lisa teamed up, taking Harry's hand and performing a Body Flicker straight to Lisa's bedroom. The pair of girls got on better with each other, they'd discovered, than with most of the girls, sharing a passion for fun and a lot of energy to pursue it. They weren't unintelligent, by any means, nor were their school results anything to be ashamed off, but they wanted to have fun and not spend their time reading books.
The dancing and the atmosphere had got both the girls in the mood for a private party with Harry. Their example was copied by most of the Jewels that night, splitting up into twos and threes and celebrating their victory, while the last Jewel, little Athena, settled for some kisses and cuddles as she fell asleep.
Up and down the country, witches and wizards were celebrating the second fall of the Dark Lord. Notable in his absence from the public celebrations, Albus Dumbledore was going to pay a visit to Harry Potter.
The ancient wizard flamed in with the aid of his phoenix companion. They arrived at the designated Apparation Point without the courtesy of calling ahead. Despite the rudeness, the Clan reacted calmly with Ayame, the face of the Clan to the LPF employees, walking out to meet him.
"Just another visitor to the Compound for the huge party, perhaps?" Ayame had chuckled at Naruto's joke. They'd had a bet on how long it would take for Dumbledore to show up and claim credit for Harry and the Lifeguards' victory. They were only half serious about the reasoning but certain that he would turn up before very long.
"Hello, Mr Dumbledore."
"Ah, hello, Mrs Todd. It is a most pleasant evening, is it not?"
"Indeed, Mr Dumbledore. May I ask the reason we have the unexpected pleasure of your presence?" Her subtle emphasis reminded Dumbledore that he had foregone the usual courtesies.
"I have come to congratulate young Mr Potter on his remarkable victory over Voldemort and to discuss where we go from here. I believe he will be crucial in the effort to restore our world."
"I will see if he is available to speak to you for a few minutes. We are in the middle of hosting a party, Mr Dumbledore, so I do not think he will be able to stay too long."
"Thank you, Mrs Todd."
"If you'll wait here."
When Harry came out a couple of minutes later, lipstick marks on both cheeks and his neck, Dumbledore felt a moment of pure envy for the young man. Though he had no interest in romance himself any more, he found himself wishing that he had had such luck in the chase when he was Harry's age.
"Ah, good evening, Mr Potter. May I come inside?"
"This way, Mr Dumbledore." The clone led the way, feeling good about the bit of envy he had spotted in Dumbledore for his good fortune. The artfully applied lipstick, courtesy of the enthusiastic Athena and Astoria, worked as intended to put the elderly wizard off balance.
They were comfortably ensconced in an entirely non-magical living room before Dumbledore spoke again.
"First, Mr Potter, permit me to offer my congratulations on completing this phase of defeating Voldemort."
Harry nodded his head slightly. "Thank you, Mr Dumbledore. I understand that he will soon be questioned regarding his Horcruxes, so that we can be sure we have destroyed them all, as well as the identities of all of his followers. With that complete, we can finally eliminate the Dark faction entirely from Great Britain and move on to fixing up the rest of the world."
Albus frowned. "There must be a balance, Harry. Our society cannot exist if the forces are unequal. The chaos of the last few years should have shown that admirably."
Harry barely avoided rolling his eyes at such an asinine claim while he considered his reply.
"Without change, there can be no growth, Mr Dumbledore. Once we are freed of the Dark ideology here and elsewhere, and the bigotry, torture and murders it encourages, we can move forward. The non-magical people call it progress. In the last century, they have learned to fly without magic, gone above the highest clouds and landed on the Moon. By contrast, the wizards and witches of Europe have done almost nothing to improve themselves until I got reintroduced to this society. Great Britain was even worse than most. You let scores of Death Eaters go free when you had all the tools you needed to prove their guilt and get rid of them forever."
"Without forgiveness, there can be no redemption, Harry."
"And who says they deserved either? They didn't even want redemption. Not a one voluntarily served their sentence."
"What about Professor Snape?"
"What about him, sir? Sure, he was supposed to be your spy. Everyone knows that after your declaration before the Wizengamot, but aren't you suspicious why Riddle allowed him to live? I know I would be."
"That was because I instructed him in Occlumency. It allowed him to deceive Voldemort as to his true loyalties" Albus replied proudly.
"Only if he truly was your spy and he managed to keep out a wizard several times stronger than he. That just doesn't seem reasonable." Harry was openly skeptical of the old wizard's claim. Did he not even think about the possible problems?
"Magic rarely does." Albus pronounced.
"It also means he'd be able to keep you out, Mr Dumbledore."
"I trust Severus with my life, Harry."
"No, you trusted him with thousands of innocent children and he abused them. There was no reason you had to hire him. The Fidelius Charm that you're so fond of would have been perfect for hiding the knowledge that placed him in danger. That isn't the point however. The point is that not even Snape redeemed himself. Instead, he added more crimes to his tally."
"Harry - Mr Potter." Albus stopped himself. "I fear we will not come to an agreement today about Severus. Another time, perhaps."
"Very well, Mr Dumbledore. You mentioned you had more to discuss today than Riddle's Horcruxes?"
"Indeed. As you know, the prophecy said that someone would be coming with 'the power the Dark Lord knew not', which I believe to be you. You are full of love, something that Voldemort never knew. It was that love, Mr Potter, that saved you that night." Dumbledore made the pronouncement with every bit of gravity he possessed, his twinkling eyes entirely absent.
"You see, Harry, Voldemort has never known love. It is something foreign to him, something he does not understand. He could not, for he was conceived under the influence of love potions."
Harry shook his head, knowing a couple of his wizard friends had been born due to the influence of alcohol, likewise a drug. They hadn't suffered from the lack of love involved in their conception.
"That does not make sense to me. Surely if the potions had such a consistent flaw, Riddle's mother would have known it."
"Nevertheless, Harry, he was never loved by his Muggle father, nor did he remember any expression of his mother's love. His time in the orphanage was devoid of love. In time, the young Tom came to despise it and deny its strength for he had never known its touch."
Harry nodded politely. "Yes, being denied the love of his parents and abandoned to an abusive environment can be extremely damaging to any child. The younger he or she is at the time, the worse the damage can be." He tilted his head slightly for a second.
If Dumbledore understood the reference to Harry's own mistreatment, he made no sign. "Once he left Hogwarts, the young Tom sought to remake himself, disappearing from his job at Borgin and Burkes before returning as Voldemort years later. However, it was obvious that he had delved deeply into the Dark Arts, unearthing and using rituals better left buried for all time. Nothing, it seemed, was too Dark for him to use for his own power. He gathered a following, those who would in time become known as the Death Eaters, from among his own classmates."
"This is all very interesting, Mr Dumbledore, but we have been through this before."
"Indeed, Mr Potter. However, you see now that the Power He Knows Not is love." Dumbledore stated it as though it was already certain when it was still under dispute.
"There are many things that Riddle does not understand, Mr Dumbledore. Any of them could be the 'Power' in the Prophecy. However, none of those were what really defeated him this final time. It was loyalty and teamwork, the kind you only get when you truly trust other people, that brought down the Dark Lord of the Prophecy."
"Nevertheless, Mr Potter, Harry, there is still more that will need to be done and I fear that it will be down to you as the one chosen by Prophecy to do it."
"What exactly did you have in mind?"
"You must understand, Mr Potter, that Voldemort was proud about going further than anyone in his quest for immortality."
"I do. He has made several repositories for his soul shards, after all. The existence and details of any others he made will certainly be on our list of things to ask him when we are ready."
"Very good. When he tells you, he will be one step closer to redemption. However, I fear that he may have made one more than he intended. Your scar, Harry."
"How the hell can you make one of those things by accident?"
"He had just committed two murders, Harry."
"Yes, my parents, Mr Dumbledore." Harry ground out.
"In-deed. As a result, his soul was unstable. When his Killing Curse was reflected back at him, a piece broke off and latched on to your scar."
"What scar would that be, Mr Dumbledore? I had an open wound on my head in the shape of a lightning bolt but it was not a scar when you left me on the Dursleys' doorstep the following frozen night."
Dumbledore sighed at the childish display. "Harry, my boy, that is the scar I had in mind. Really, if you are too immature to discuss the situation like a rational adult, there is little that can be done for you."
Harry allowed his full presence to flow as he glared at that blatant manipulation, letting the old wizard feel a tiny sliver of his anger. "Mr Dumbledore, you are a guest in my home. That does not give you leave to insult my character or intelligence, certainly not after the crimes you have committed against me."
Dumbledore hid his shock at his sudden fear of the teen sitting across from him. "My apologies, Mr Potter. As you say, it was onto your wound that Voldemort's soul attached itself."
"Have you any proof of this scenario? And if true, what have you done to find a solution?" Harry had reined in his anger as the ancient wizard apologized and with it, Dumbledore's fear of him had passed.
"There was Dark Magic in your scar, Harry. I could feel it immediately and I cast a number of arcane spells to determine what it was. It matched the residue left in the diary you found in your second year and that in the Gaunt ring. Voldemort left a piece of his soul in you that night you defeated him."
"You flatter me, Mr Dumbledore." Harry's voice hardened a touch. "So what have you done to solve this problem?"
"I have consulted my many tomes that I have collected in my century of life, Mr Potter. I tried to find a way to remove the piece of Voldemort without harm to you, Harry. Despite my best efforts, the answers could not be found there." Dumbledore rattled off the answer with as much grandfatherly wisdom as he could inject into it, truly confident that his answer would be satisfactory.
"And what did you do after that?" Harry questioned immediately.
"I just told you what I did to find the answer, Mr Potter. There is no other way."
"So you looked in a handful of books and didn't find anything. There was someone's life on the line, the baby you were sure was chosen by prophecy and you just gave up?" Harry didn't have to fake the horrified look he gave the old wizard but knew he would never get a satisfactory answer for Dumbledore's behaviour. It's not like Harry still had to worry about the piece of Voldemort inside him since it had been removed by accident a decade ago. Better to move on to another mystery that he could get resolved. "How did you hear that prophecy anyway?"
Dumbledore relaxed when Harry changed the subject. How could he have explained that he didn't trust anyone with the information at the time and later it was too late. The boy was still too young to understand the importance of certain secrets, the atmosphere of those dark days.
Harry listened as Dumbledore wove his tale, of the distrust and outright paranoia of the times, of the news that seemed to come daily about some fresh murder or betrayal and of the search amidst it all for the right candidate to replace the leaving Divination Professor.
"Excuse me, that does not make sense."
"What do you mean, Mr Potter?"
"Why would you leave the safety of Hogwarts' wards, which you controlled, to hold the interview? Worse, why would you take a room at the Hogs Head Inn? The owner at the time was your brother and we both know that he hasn't spoken to you in decades. Why did he even let you in?"
"Aberforth made no objection when I entered and took a room. The crowd of patrons had parted for me when I approached him, allowing me to ask directly."
Harry snorted mentally at that. 'Refuse his oh so powerful brother in front of a fearful crowd and the implied protection they would get? Of course he couldn't, not if he wanted to keep his customers.'
"And why wouldn't you hold it at Hogwarts, where Madam Trelawney wanted it and you would be on safe ground?"
"I did not wish to give her undue hope for attaining the position. I had researched her before the interview and discovered that she had given no trace of the Sight, unlike her famous ancestor. The interview itself was merely a formality at the time. When I met her, I was even more confident of my decision. As soon as I heard her out, I could go back to the castle and make arrangements to cancel the course."
Harry did a double take and interrupted the tale again. "You could do that as the Headmaster? Just outright destroy part of the students' education?"
Albus frowned. "It would only be until a suitable replacement was found. It is not like I would be able to, or even want, to outright remove the course from the syllabus. However much I disliked the subject or would in weaker moments have wished to see such wooly magic disappear, such an action had not crossed my mind."
"Ah, you mean you would have suspended the course."
"Indeed, Mr Potter. If I may continue?" At Harry's nod, Albus took up again his tale. "During the interview, Sybil seemed to confirm my earlier low estimation. She seemed to have not a trace of the gift herself, though the blood of her very famous, very gifted great-great-grandmother flowed through her veins. I told her, courteously I hope, that I did not think she would be suitable for the post. I turned to leave."
When Dumbledore paused, Harry spoke up. "And that's when she conveniently made a prophecy?" His skepticism was obvious.
"Yes, Mr Potter. Like yourself, I was suspicious of the timing. Even more when I heard the nature of it. It was like winning the lottery. However, it hurt nothing to check it out and let Miss Trelawney know in the morning. As I was saying, I turned to leave and that is when she made the prophecy. You know the words of the prophecy, that it described the one who would have the power to defeat the Dark Lord. When Voldemort came after you as a baby, he inadvertently chose you over the other candidate he had identified from the fragment of the prophecy he knew."
"Neville. You believe that the attack on me marked me as his equal though before it could have been either myself or Neville."
"Precisely." Dumbledore allowed Harry to believe that though he still felt that it was the scar. "From that night, it was clear that you were the one chosen by the prophecy."
"But how did Riddle come to hear any of the prophecy?"
"Sybil had chosen the Hog's Head Inn for its price, not for its security, I am afraid. As I discovered to my cost that night, it is a place where it is never safe to assume you are not being overheard. Of course, I had not dreamed, when I set out to meet Sybil Trelawney, that I would hear anything worth overhearing. My - our - one stroke of good fortune was that the eavesdropper was detected only a short way into the prophecy and thrown from the building."
Harry narrowed his eyes as Dumbledore changed his story about why they had been there and further when he heard the man's poor excuse for not ensuring their privacy. It was the last sentence, however, that was the most important. Setting aside the questions of who and how, Harry listened to the rest of the story.
"He only heard the first part, the part foretelling the birth of a boy born in July to parents who had thrice defied Voldemort. Consequently, he could not warn his master that to attack you would be to risk transferring power to you - again marking you as his equal. So Voldemort never knew that there might be danger in attacking you, that it might be wise to wait or to learn more. He did not know that you would have 'power the Dark Lord knows not'."
When it was clear that Dumbledore had finished, Harry started to speak. "I have a number of questions about that, Mr Dumbledore."
"Are you sure you weren't Sorted into Ravenclaw?" Dumbledore asked, trying to make the young man smile at his joke and get back some ground. Unfortunately for him, Harry was only annoyed by the attempt.
"Quite. First of all, why did you not ensure that a job interview was kept private? This has been standard practice in regular society for a while now and those were supposedly 'dark and perilous times'." Harry found it hard but kept his tone curious rather than accusatory.
"It didn't occur to me. I was only going to be polite."
Harry wanted to call him out on his hypocrisy but hospitality prevented that, especially after what he had said earlier. "Next, how were you overheard for only part of the prophecy? You mentioned that your eavesdropper was detected only a short way into the prophecy but you neglected to mention his or her identity and what measures you took to capture the eavesdropper."
"My brother caught him outside my room and threw him out. I found out about my eavesdropper after the interview when Aberforth took the trouble to inform me. I must confess he seemed oddly happy about that."
'Nothing odd about it, old man. He hates your guts. Any bad news he can give you is good in his book.' "So what did you do to track down and interrogate him or her?"
"Oh, it was far too late. He had already been thrown out of the building and Apparated away." Dumbledore was remarkably unconcerned in Harry's opinion.
"And just who was the eavesdropper?" It was taking more than Harry liked of his willpower to keep from showing his frustration.
"A Death Eater. He had taken the information straight to the Dark Lord."
"So you heard a prophecy regarding the Dark Lord, which was already partially taken to the sociopath, and you still hid the contents from your own Order? From my parents? You could have shared the first part since you knew that the Dark Lord already knew it. There was no point to concealing that part especially not from the few people willing to take the fight to the Death Eaters. And you still have not answered my question, Mr Dumbledore. Who was the eavesdropper?"
"Harry, you must understand -" Dumbledore tried to deflect him, aware that the boy would foolishly blame the wizard despite his reformed ways.
"Yes, Mr Dumbledore, I must understand who it was."
"The wizard who overheard has since had a change of heart. When he heard who was targeted, he begged me to find a way to save - "
"Who. Was. It?" Harry didn't bother holding back on his Killing Intent, feeling a measure of satisfaction when he saw Dumbledore pale. He already had a good idea but he wanted the answer straight from the horse's mouth.
After taking a second to get his breath back, Dumbledore answered. "Professor Snape heard it. However, as I said, he begged me to help when he found out that his childhood friend Lily's family was threatened."
"And you saw fit to reward that utter traitor?! You let him alone with both children who could have fulfilled the prophecy for years! You let him abuse one of the candidates for your blasted precious prophecy! If he hadn't seen me as one of his own Snakes, he would have done the same to me too! He betrayed humanity multiple times, forfeiting any concern owed him, but you hired him putting him in the same room as his victims and their families. If Tom Riddle had gone after any other family, any other baby, he wouldn't have given a damn and left them to die! Not that he actually warned my parents despite his supposed concern."
"Harry!"
"Be quiet!" Harry snapped and took a couple of breaths to calm himself. "After everything you have said and done, the only reasonable thing I can conclude is that you were on Riddle's side the whole time.
"You hid the prophecy from my parents and from the Longbottoms. You rewarded the Death Eater who set my family up for slaughter. You placed me with people you knew were abusive when you had Hagrid kidnap me and then abandoned me there. Your own actions would have seen me arrive at Hogwarts damaged or broken, ripe for manipulation by anyone. All Draco would have had to do was tell me that you were responsible for putting me there and I'd have been on his side for life.
"You protected Death Eaters from the deaths they'd earned with their casual torture and murder of others 'of lesser blood' in the name of a Dark Lord. You didn't even speak up when one of your own loyal supporters was thrown in prison without trial. You kidnapped a baby in order to abuse it. I remember our discussion during my first year. You wanted me to be abused! And all the evidence points to you already knowing Pettigrew was a traitor when the Fidelius was created." Harry watched the slight flinch at the accusation, the tiny signs screaming out his guilt.
"You did! Did you want to use their deaths to find out who was the Chosen One? And when I arrived at Hogwarts, happy and healthy and scar-free, you didn't even consider that might mean you were wrong about me having to die."
Dumbledore found himself rooted to his chair by Harry's righteous anger and his own guilt. He hadn't thought about what Harry's lack of a scar meant, let alone how his actions would look when recounted one after another like that. He had been trying to do his best and had shrugged off accusations in the past. Finding out that someone else had removed the Horcrux when he couldn't was a blow to his pride, and he couldn't ignore the evidence now. Something in him broke and his regrets, his second thoughts that he had pushed aside returned full force.
The old wizard didn't even notice Naruto's arrival until he spoke. "Mr Dumbledore, we have questions for you. You will answer them now. All of them."
"I- I was only trying to do what was best for everyone."
"'Good intentions are no substitute for knowing how a buzz saw works,' Mr Dumbledore." Naruto quoted the great writer only to see the wizard's confusion.
"What's a buzzsaw? And why am I tied up?" Harry had lifted the wizard's wands while he was startled by Naruto's interruption. Once he was disarmed, Dumbledore was tied in ninja wire to restrain him and bring home the change in his status from uninvited guest to prisoner.
"You are tied up so that you don't try to evade our questions, Mr Dumbledore." Naruto carried the broken spirited old man out to Anko's special workspace. "And as for the buzzsaw, that's kind of the point. You are ignorant of the 'Muggle' world but still you thought you were competent to guide it. You were trying to control things you don't understand."
"Fawkes!" To Dumbledore's shock, he saw his companion flame in and fly to Harry's shoulder, accepting petting with a trill. He would have been more shocked if he knew that the Clan had decided beforehand to restrain or kill Fawkes if he helped Dumbledore escape justice, it might possibly even have given the old wizard a heart attack. That wouldn't have stopped the Clan from calling him up with the Resurrection Stone and interrogating him.
Harry left them to it, going back to his room where Michelle, Meaghan, Ella, Sandra, Ashley and Stephanie were all waiting for him. One look at his stressed face and they had him stripped down for a massage in two seconds flat. He smiled up at his first loves, pulling down the closest, Stephanie, and kissing her thoroughly.
The interrogation of Voldemort was a more brutal affair. Not only was he younger than Dumbledore, the would-be world conqueror had taken steps to make his body far more durable after his encounter with Harry Potter and the throwing knives.
Anko took the lead in making him regret that durability and even making his Horcruxes. Tsunade and the others were on hand, not only to support her efforts to extract all his secrets but also to make sure that Riddle didn't escape them into death.
They had first tried Veritaserum. While the Clan still didn't trust the magical method, it didn't hurt to use it as well, so they gave Riddle the counter-agent then waited the prescribed seven minutes and seven seconds before giving him the maximum dose of the truth serum.
To their surprise, the serum actually worked, though it was far from perfect. One of the first things they had discovered was that the terrorist had used Oaths himself to protect his secrets. Careful questioning had revealed that as expected, there were escape clauses in those Oaths and that they had the means to activate them.
Quickly doing so, they found out all of the locations and identities of Riddle's Horcruxes. He had hidden one in Hogwarts itself, in a hidden room, using another of the Founders' items. Rowena's legendary diadem, said to grant the bearer wisdom, had been corrupted by Riddle into another anchor for his fragmented soul. The next, and last, was Hufflepuff's Cup which was in the Lestrange vault at Gringotts.
Narcissa was contacted at this point. Getting her sister's key from her was simplicity itself as it was one of the ones she kept with her at all times, and she even volunteered to go with the team to retrieve the Cup. While the proud witch was off on her errand, Riddle's questioning continued.
He hadn't realized that a piece of his soul had latched onto Harry, though he didn't regret the pain it had caused the boy for the few years it was there. He had noticed that creating his last Horcrux, Nagini, had been far more painful than he had expected but ignored the matter since he was unable to make any more. His curiosity was weaker than his need for control and Riddle had far more important matters on his mind by then.
In the end, they heard from his end how he had heard the fragment of the prophecy. Through his spies in the Ministry, he had confirmed that the prophecy was real and so he had tried to use the maddeningly vague clues to find who would rise to threaten him in his ascension. The fact that Pettigrew had been made the Secret Keeper for one of the families made his choice for him of who to go after first. He regretted going in without full information when it had destroyed his original body but he had no remorse for the people he had tortured or killed.
Tsunade backhanded Riddle at that point. "The questioning is over. We can get the rest of his secrets later. I am sure it will help solve a number of crimes. But we have what we needed."
The Clan returned to Harry, passing him a piece of paper with the details as Naruto gave him the mission.
"Son, there is only one last Horcrux to retrieve and then it will be over. While we wring the rest of his secrets out of him, why don't you head up to the castle with Minerva and Amelia and grab it?"
Harry nodded and vanished, grabbing his ready kit and then going to the allies' wing where the two witches were talking.
"Harry?" Amelia asked on seeing the young man.
"Just one more thing to find and Riddle can be killed for good. Of course, it's at Hogwarts. It was placed there right under Dumbledore's nose, from what Riddle said. Riddle was gloating about it even under Veritaserum."
Harry stopped and collected himself, also allowing the ladies to get over their own shock.
Minerva was surprisingly the first to rise ahead of the younger Minister. "Let's get going, Mr Potter."
The three walked to the outbound Apparation point. Amelia held Harry's hand as she took him with Side-Along Apparation to just outside the school's gates. The pair followed Minerva inside and they walked up to the school, heading inside to the Room of Requirements.
Harry offered to let Minerva open the Room of Hidden Things configuration. She had an expression of intense concentration on her face as she paced past the opening three times and a small smile at her success. All three of them were surprised when they opened up the door and came face to face with a thousand years of junk.
"What is all this?" Amelia asked rhetorically, putting on her dragonhide gloves like the others before she touched anything in there.
It was a good thing they knew what to look for and that they had brought brooms. Instead of having to spend days hunting through the broken or misplaced items from a thousand years of careless students, they flew over the piles while keeping an eye out for Riddle's Horcrux. Harry's trained eyes spotted it before either of his companions and he landed slightly ahead of them.
"Such a waste!" Minerva moaned when she saw the legendary treasure. Although she would have liked to try it on, she well knew the dangers and she could feel the compulsion magic upon the diadem beating at her defences, keeping her aware of the situation.
Harry made a clone who reached out to pick up the diadem. He held it up to the light with a pair of tongs, examining it from all angles. "Aha!" The clone reached into his pouch and grabbed a pair of needle nosed pliers, prying out the lining which didn't match the rest of the diadem's style or age.
"You don't mean!" Amelia didn't know whether to laugh or be horrified. Riddle had added a liner to the Diadem and she found when she ran a spell that it had both the compulsion magic, which was at full strength, and a faded Notice-Me-Not on the fabric.
"I really do. It looks like Riddle was unable to alter the enchantments on Ravenclaw's Diadem to allow his Horcrux so he cast it on the lining he made for it. I can't tell if there was another lining that he removed or not."
Amelia shook her head and when she spoke again, it was in a considering tone. "It isn't a terrible plan. Almost any witch or wizard from our world has heard of the Diadem. The temptation to immediately use it would be there even without the help of his charms on it. In addition, any tests performed on the Diadem would come up clean. Unless whoever found it already knew about the Horcrux, which Riddle obviously didn't want anyone to know, it was a good plan."
The small group took a walk back out to the front gates, enjoying the summer weather and the break from the tension of the recent conflict. Amelia smirked at Minerva as she hugged harry to her and took him back to the Compound. By the time they were inside and meeting the Clan, Narcissa's little group had arrived with a bag containing Riddle's other Horcrux.
When she drew it out of the bag, Compulsion Charm or no, Harry felt the desire to examine the artefact and test its reputed properties to enhance potions. What Riddle had done to it, however, had destroyed the previous enchantments when he made it a Horcrux. It was a terrible prospect for anyone with respect for history, or for the House of the Loyal, but Hufflepuff's Cup had to be destroyed.
All eyes went to Harry who was looking at Amelia Bones. "Madam Bones, you have helped greatly to take the fight to Riddle for longer than I have been alive. Would you like the honour of destroying one of his final holds on life?"
She paused for half a second then nodded firmly. "I do believe I would, Mr Potter. If no one else has an objection?"
Seeing that Harry, known in the Alliance to be marked by the prophecy, was willing to give up that honour to someone everyone respected would help cement the Alliance's loyalty to him. Harry knew it but that was at most a secondary concern for him. He knew as well as anyone about Amelia's drive to bring the Death Eaters to justice and, to his mind, she had earned the honour.
Naruto brought out a small bottle of basilisk venom and set it gently on the table next to the Cup. Under a hundred watchful eyes, and a dozen video cameras, Amelia Bones carefully tipped out a few drops onto the doomed item then stepped back. As they watched, the toxic substance burned into the Cup deeper and deeper until a black mist escaped, briefly forming a face as it screamed its death throes.
Yugito carried away the now melted and useless remnants of the Cup to be stored and examined later. Now it was Harry's turn, and he held up Ravenclaw's Diadem. There were more groans, before, with the flair of a stage magician, Harry removed the cursed lining and with a flourish dripped venom onto it. The surprise, not to mention relief, on his friends and allies' faces was immense when the Horcrux's destruction proved that they didn't have to wreck a second artefact from the Founders in the same day.
The interrogation of Dumbledore, though gentler than Riddle's, was still far harsher than the old wizard had expected. During the course of it, he revealed under Veritaserum and confirmed through the Yamanaka techniques that he had indeed set up the Potter and Longbottom families to be attacked. He needed to know who would be the Chosen One and the quicker the better. The young parents were sacrificed for the greater good of their world, it was that simple. However, he had never touched the Potter vault, never touched young Harry's inheritance.
That had matched what little information they got from the goblins but it was always nice to get it straight from the horse's mouth. Dumbledore had kept only the Cloak of Invisibility from Harry, and at that only until Harry's first year. The rest of the house was quite thoroughly trashed beyond their capacity to restore it with the few salvageable items taken later by the Department of Mysteries. (Happily, Amelia would ensure they were all tracked down and returned, not that the Department's wizards would brave the wrath of Wizarding Britain by refusing.) Even with Dumbledore's secret, the Elder Wand of legend, he couldn't overcome the chaotic effects from that night.
As for the Elder Wand, that was another surprise. Not only had Dumbledore taken it from his former friend Grindelwald after their duel left Albus the new master, but Harry's repeated defeats of Dumbledore's efforts over the years, in addition to disarming him of it at the end, had left him the new master according to the very twisted logic of the wand. That seemed to make Harry the master of all three so-called Deathly Hallows but no additional powers had manifested.
Still, a third wand was a nice trophy. Harry might even get around to using it one of these days. For the rest of the week, however, Harry was too busy celebrating with his friends and the Jewels.
Thank you for reading! As always, my hearty thanks to my beta readers for all of their help. For those curious, the story should continue into 7th year, though the pacing will pick up either way.