It sad day when such a great actor passes. To Alan Rickman we say farewell and Gods speed.

Edited by the mighty pazed!

Once again I own nothing! Just playing with someone else's toys!

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Chapter 64

Chinthliss walked through the small hamlet of Hogsmeade, counting each home as he went. "Finding someplace would be so much easier if these people had actual addresses…" he mumbled under his breath.

Finally finding what he hoped was his destination he shook his head at the sight of the small rundown cottage. "How the mighty have fallen…" he said before walking towards the front door.

It didn't take long for the door to swing open revealing a tired looking older man in bright multi-colored robes and long white beard with small half-moon glasses perched on his nose. Dumbledore's eyes widened when he saw his visitor. "Headmaster Chinthliss!" Gathering himself quickly, he continued, "I-I'm afraid I was not expecting visitors..." He swung the door open and gestured for the man to enter. "Please, come in."

"Dumbledore," he said stepping inside, after carefully wiping his immaculately clean loafers on the threadbare mat just inside. "I wanted to meet with you outside some of the normal areas we would encounter each other…" he gestured to the room down the short hallway. "Some place we would not be overheard."

Albus's brow wrinkled in concern, as he led the way toward the sitting area. "I believe you have made your position abundantly clear on the majority of matters where it concerned me…"

"Do not take me for a fool!" Chinthliss said in an angry growl, allowing his magic to flare and his eyes to glow, and causing Albus to spin in his direction, wand in hand.

"And put that damn stick away!" he growled stepping forward. "Your ability with that… toy may scare most of these idiots you call wizards but all of your vaunted power and ability mean nothing to me!" he said letting more of his power roll off him and crash into the room, smoke pushing out of his mouth as he spoke, raising the temperature till Albus was sweating profusely.

"An elemental…" Albus said in a hushed tone. "But… that's..."

Chinthliss smirked. "While I am capable of their form of magic, I am no elemental, Wizard… I am something far worse! Now sit down before you collapse! I am not here to do you any harm!" he said pointing toward the chair next to the window.

Albus sat with a glazed look in his eye and rubbing his arm while Chinthliss moved to the window and opened it slightly letting the now overheated air escape into the cool evening. "You really need to take better care of yourself Mr. Dumbledore, if something like that little display of power has you in such a state."

Albus took a deep breath. "I am fully aware of my health issues," he said, his voice still quiet, "And due to recent unfortunate events I find myself in a position to focus almost exclusively on the matter, though thank you for your concern."

Chinthliss waved this off. "As you may have surmised by this time Harry is much more to me than just a student of the school, he is the son of my Apprentice and also my Apprentice in his own right." Albus nodded. "At any rate, that is not the issue at the moment, I am here to speak with you not about your future, but rather your past."

Albus quirked his eyebrow as his visitor sat in the large wingback chair across from him. "My past?" Albus asked, confused.

Chinthliss nodded. "Yes, and not the stories written in those so called history books you no doubt vetted yourself, but your real history…" Albus's eyes widened. "You see we have been researching you and your government for some time, granted most of it was background just in case something happened and we needed to deal with your people, but once we were forced to return due to this tournament that research took a higher priority."

Albus nodded slowly. "I can see the wisdom of that… but what effect would my personal history have on such information?"

Chinthliss shrugged. "Everyone is driven by something Mr. Dumbledore, even the most basic of creatures. Unfortunately those possessed of full awareness and intelligence are driven by far more ethereal things than just food, shelter, and mating. Things such as your Greater Good."

"True enough," Albus admitted. "People are very complex." He adjusted his half moon glasses. "Very well, ask what you wish."

Chinthliss leaned forward, placing his elbows on his knees. "Why did you choose to leave Harry with Lily's sister?"

Albus sighed. "Again?" he asked, only to have Chinthliss look at him with no small amount of anger. "She was the only blood relative known to us at the time. All of the remaining Potters had passed prior to James, as had Lily's parents. I believed it to be the best of limited choices."

Chinthliss began to speak but was cut off by Albus's raised hand and continuing voice. "You must understand it was a time of war," Albus said, "and unfortunately even with their master gone, the Death Eaters were still very much a threat. If he had not been placed there many of those families may have tried to claim him as he is blood kin to them at some level, so I did as I felt was necessary at the time."

Chinthliss studied the man for a moment. "But that is not the only reason that you placed him there, is it?"

Albus sighed. "No," he finally admitted. "Using his blood connection with his aunt I was able to construct a set of blood wards, wards that would protect Harry from being found by those wizards wishing to do him, as well as his family, harm."

"His family harm?" Chinthliss asked growing angry. "Is that the way you constructed the ward?" he asked.

"It was," Albus replied.

Chinthliss tossed up his hands. "I suppose you tied them to the location as well?" he asked, Albus nodded. "So not only did you trap Harry in there with an abusive ass, but you trapped Petunia and her son the same way?"

Albus waved his hand, trying to deflect the man's anger. "I'll admit that I underestimated Vernon's reaction and anger, but I had no reason to suspect the level of physical violence that occurred!"

Chinthliss became deadly still. "Underestima… You knew?" Power once again radiated off him. "You knew what Vernon was… Lily told you what he was like… you knew how much she disliked him, and what he thought of her!" he growled as the temperature again increased.

Gathering in his emotions, Chinthliss asked one further question. "Why?"

Albus sank deeper into the chair, as if somehow broken. "I-I wanted him to be the new champion of the light… To be my successor… my legacy."

Chinthliss looked at the now much older looking man, stunned. "Then why leave him there? Surely…"

Albus face sagged into his hands. "Could not raise him myself… there was still so much more to do… and I-I couldn't take the chance that a wizarding family I chose could raise him properly… he would have been seen as a savior.. a hero… and become arrogant… No, he needed to be raised away from magic, come to Hogwarts humble, and see magic as the amazing gift that it is. Some hardship, while unfortunate, could be overcome… Helping to build his character."

Chinthliss sat there for a time stunned by the person across from him. "So you wanted him there to be raised like that… so he would come to you… humble?" It pained the dragon to use the word but he needed to learn more.

Albus looked up at him, eyes glassy again. "Yes… I wanted him wide eyed and in wonder at the amazing things magic was capable of, for him to see Hogwarts as his new home… I would then oversee his education, making sure he applied himself, and got passable grades, but still had time to be a child and have friends. During the summers he would need to return to his family, of course, to help keep him grounded, but only until he graduated… Next, I would arrange for him to have an appropriate job with one of my contacts while helping him gain masteries in at least two subjects. Then after a short time I would offer him a place here, perhaps taking over for Flitwick or Minerva so she could focus on being deputy headmaster. All the while he would be in an apprenticeship with me… by then he would be ready…" The man's voice trailed off, wistful, as he became lost in his own fantasy. "He could have made up for so much… allowed time for the dream I have for the magical world to come to fruition…"

Chinthliss could not believe what he was hearing. "W-what do you need to make up for?"

Dumbledore shrugged, "Gellert… Tom… I lost them both… I still don't understand why," he said looking out the window.

"Gellert?" Chinthliss asked, "Gellert Grindelwald?"

"Mmmmm…" Albus said nodding his head. "We were… friends once… perhaps we may yet be again…He came to England when I lived in Godric's Hollow, such a fine, strapping figure he was. Intelligent too… almost my equal. He was on a quest… To find some objects thought lost to history, and his search had led him there…"

Albus sat for a short time lost in thought. "He loved magic… Even after he had been expelled from Durmstrang… In the end I had to go and find him in Europe… he had lost his way and fallen into the lure of Dark Magics… I bested him and placed him in prison where he can be kept safe and will eventually learn the error of his ways so he can return to his place in society…"

Chinthliss sat there, slack jawed. He had researched the man, and while no Hitler, he had been a dangerous individual, using the horrors of the war and his own abilities to great effect to bolster his own reputation and support. He would have come to the forefront of the war effort in short order after the magicals involved in WWII completed their struggle with those entrenched with the Nazis, but for some reason Dumbledore had dropped everything to go after him. "Dum… Albus, why did you go after Gellert?"

The old man sighed and a tear ran down his face. "It was originally nothing more than an academic exercise. One of our discussions that led to an argument and his belief that he could mould society into the image we wished through force. He was planning to move things to involve the muggles, he would have exposed our society…"

'We?' Chinthliss thought. "And how did you think this… molding should be done?"

"Through the government itself," Albus replied without taking his eyes off the darkening skies outside. "I told him that was the best way to proceed, and if done correctly, the people would be on our side…I was so sad that he would not see reason…Just like Tom…"

"Tom?" Chinthliss was almost afraid to listen to the answer.

Albus smiled softly. "Such a nice, intelligent and handsome young man… Did you know he was an orphan? And head boy in 1945? Such an amazing mind he had… he went through magic classes with such ease… even with the fact he had to return to the orphanage each summer… but that was for the best... he needed to spend time in a place that would keep him grounded… I so wanted him to become my successor… but alas it wasn't to be… When he returned and took the name Voldemort I tried my best to help him… reason with him, and return him to the path of light…"

Good God! The man was insane! He had been instrumental in the rise of two of the individuals that had brought the wizarding community of Britain to its knees! He was at the center of it all!

Standing he turned toward the door. "I'm sorry Albus, but I didn't realize it had gotten so late, we will need to continue this discussion another time…" Only when he turned around at the door did he realise that Dumbledore had never risen from his chair, and was still watching the night fall across the small village.

Opening the door quickly he stepped outside, wondering just how they were going to deal with this information.

Harry stepped out of the motor home and headed for the common area they were using for meals. It had started out as a productive weekend, then his father had been approached by the crew chief for Dale Jarrett's number 32 Bush Series car.

Mr. Jarrett had been held up due to some sponsorship duties, and they needed a driver to put some laps on their new car. Nothing fancy, just let them see the setup on the track and keep the fenders on, and someone had suggested Harry.

From that point on he had been on cloud nine. While he was still too young to race a Bush event he was getting real seat time in one of their cars and working with a race winning team!

Harry entered the open area and drew in a deep breath, the smell of bacon and sausage was thick in the air, along with that of freshly baked bread. Moving to the serving table he quickly filled his plate and made his way toward a table to sit, where he was soon joined by their newest travelling companion, Pansy.

"Good morning Harry," she said placing her own plate on the table and sitting down. "Are you going to be taking the place of that other driver again today?" she asked.

He nodded, as he placed strips of bacon on his biscuit, along with a heaping pile of eggs, making a small sandwich. "Just for an hour or two. Mr. Jarrett's flight will be here about ten and after talking with him and the team I'll be done."

"We went and watched you drive yesterday… and Al told us you were fast… did you enjoy it?"

He smiled, nodding as he chewed and swallowed. "It was amazing! I even got to spend a few laps in the pack with the other drivers! Not much, just a few laps, the team didn't want me to risk the car too much, but I got to feel what it was like!"

Pansy smiled as well. "That's good…" She paused and took a bit of her own meal, allowing him to focus a moment on his own. "Are you planning on going tonight? To the reception I mean."

He nodded again as he made a second biscuit and wrapped it in a napkin to eat on the way to the track. "Yeah, I've got to make an appearance and meet with the sponsors for a bit."

Her smile widened. "Do you think we will have a chance to dance again tonight?"

He shrugged and put his can of Pepsi in his jacket pocket. "I don't see why not. I'll tell you what, I'll make sure yours is the first dance tonight. Ok?"

A predatory grin broke out on her face as he turned away and headed toward his golf cart. "Thank you Harry, I would like that," she replied.