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4: Meeting Albus
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Harry smiled as he thanked the hat before standing and placing the hat back on the stool. Then he walked toward the table with the students dressed in yellow and black. Nodding to the first years, he sat with his fellow fifth years and watched as the entire school came very close to having a meltdown. Smiling on the inside he waited to see if any of his family's allies would gather up the courage to speak with him.
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Albus Dumbledore stared in shock. He had been searching for the missing potter heir for years now. He hadn't wanted to leave Harry on Petunia's door step. He after all knew of her dislike of Lilly, but there had been no one else he could have placed Harry with. When Harry had disappeared the very day, he was supposed to receive his Hogwarts letter, although Albus hadn't known that at first, it had sent the old headmaster into a panic. Had 1 of the death eaters found the lad outside, and spirited away with him? Had someone from outside of Briton found the lad, and spirited him away to make Albus look bad? Or had something else happened to the lad. Evidently the last case had been what happened. He had heard about the woman who had transformed right in front of all the students before any of them could leave for the castle.
He was saddened by the loss of life, but he wasn't going to even try to seek reparations. For 1 thing the woman was now out of everyone else's reach. For another the stupid fool had cast the killing curse in full view of over 2 hundred students, and Hagrid. "That idiot got just what he deserved"Albus thought. Wasn't Slytherin supposed to be for the cunning? How cunning is it to cast the killing curse where everyone can see it. Oh well, not that it matters now. Mr. Potter was here, and now they could work on fulfilling that dammed prophecy.
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It wasn't until half way through dinner that 1 of the students gathered the courage to speak up. "Um, are you really Harry Potter?"
Harry laid down his fork, and finished chewing what was in his mouth. "Yes, I am Harry Potter. May I ask with whom I am speaking?"
The girl flushed. "Oh sorry. My name is Susan Bones."
Harry looked thoughtful for a minute. "Are you related to Director Amelia Bones?"
Susan nodded. "She's my aunt."
Harry nodded again. "From what I was told she is a very fair and hard-working woman. If nothing interferes, I am hoping to meet with her as regent for your house."
Susan looked puzzled. "Why is that Mr. Potter?
Harry shrugged. "I would like to ask her as the regent of an allied house why she didn't try to obtain any information on my living arrangements."
Several others at the table, including Susan gasped at this statement.
"For all I know she did try, but someone else blocked her. I have no wish to cast stones until I have proof 1 way or another"Harry said.
Susan sagged in relief. "I can get in touch with her after dinner if you like Mr. Potter."
Harry smiled at Susan. "I would appreciate that Miss Bones, and please call me Harry. After all we're going to be class mates for at least this year."
Susan Blushed. "Thank you, Harry, and please call me Susan."
that Seemed to break the spell over the table as the others introduced themselves.
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Dinner was just winding up when McGonigal approached the Hufflepuff table. "Mr. Potter?"
Harry looked up. "Yes professor."
"The headmaster requests you join him in his office."
Harry nodded. "I will just talk with my head of house, and proceed directly there. Thank you, madam."
McGonigal huffed. "The headmaster does not like to be kept waiting Mr. Potter."
"And the school charter specifically prevents any student from speaking with the head master without the knowledge of that student's head of house."
With that Harry rose from the table, and turning walked up toward the head table, and Professor Sprout.
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Twenty minutes after speaking with Professor McGonigal, Harry Potter was approaching the gargoyle that guarded the head master's office. Sprout had nodded at Harry's information, and had told the lad to just call for `1 of the house elves when he was ready to return to the Hufflepuff dorms.
Reaching the gargoyle Harry realized he didn't know the password. "Um could you please let the headmaster know that Harry Potter is here?"
Nothing happened at first. Then suddenly the gargoyle stepped aside revealing stairs that started to ascend like an escalator. Nodding to the statue Harry stepped on to the stairs, and road them up to a landing with a door.
He was just about to knock on the door when a voice called out, "Come in Mr. Potter".
shooting the door a thoughtful look Harry twisted the knob, opened the door, and walked through it.
The headmaster's office wouldn't look out of place in any muggle secondary school. Along 1 wall were book shelves filled almost to the brim with old tomes. On the opposite wall below some of the portraits that were arranged around the walls, sat a map of the school.
Harry thought back to the Marauder's map Heart had told him about, and wondered if the headmaster had tried to recreate it here.
In the center of the room sat an enormous pinewood desk. The desk was covered with papers. Ranging from budget concerns. To possible head boy and head girl candidates for next year. Harry didn't see anything that had to do with the ICW, or the Wizengamot. Although he hadn't expected to see any of it. This simply confirmed Harry's opinion about the head master. In his mind at least Albus Dumbledore was a good head master trying his best.
"Ah Mr. Potter. Please come in and take a seat."
Harry walked over to the desk, and sat in 1 of the chairs facing the head master's desk.
"Greetings Head Master."
Albus gave Harry a bright smile. It made the man look years younger.
"Greetings Mr. Potter. Would you care for a lemon drop?"
Harry shook his head. "No thank you sir. I discovered I'm allergic to lemon drops. I and the people training me have no idea why that is, but I need to avoid eating any of those candies."
Albus looked surprised. "I'm sorry to hear that"he said as he moved the bowl out of Harry's reach. "In that case shall we get down to the reason I asked for you this evening?"
Harry settled back in his chair. "Please do sir."
"Very well. May I ask where you have been for the last 5 years?"
Harry smiled. "I have been training with the elemental masters of nature."
Albus looked startled at this announcement.
"I have been training in a different dimension than this one. Apparently, time flows differently there. Because although I have been gone for just under 5 years, I have been training in some of my family's powers for just under 10 years."
Albus blinked at that. "You don't look like you're almost 20."
Harry grinned. "That's thanks to Shadow. She is the master of time, and so she reversed the aging I had gone through just before I returned."
Albus smiled at the teen. "Then what may I ask are you here in this school. I'm fairly sure you could pass any test the ministry could throw at you, and not have to put up with the mistakes an old man has made."
To the surprise of Albus Harry shook his head. "First of all, I don't blame you for my placement with my relatives. I know you didn't become chief warlock until 2 years after my parents' death. I also know you have been trying to get my god-father a trial ever since he was tossed into Azkaban. It's not your fault that no one wants to hear a word in his defense."
Albus sagged in relief. He had worried Harry would blame him for what had happened to Sirius.
"I also know that someone convinced the chief warlock at the time to seal my parent's wills, and that you have tried to get them unsealed every year since taking up the chief warlock post."
Albus nodded. "For some reason the Wizengamot passed a ruling that every member of the Wizengamot would have to agree before anyone could unseal your parent's wills."
Harry grinned. "Fortunately, the Wizengamot has no say over the copy in Gringotts."
Albus smiled. "You've been to Gringotts then?"
Harry shook his head. "Not me. Pre the master that trained me in physical combat visited the bank, and brought back a copy of the wills. I couldn't leave my training at that point."
Albus nodded. "So, what do you plan to do now that you are here, and is there any way I can help?"
Harry gave Albus a warm smile. "I will be attending Hogwarts for this year so I can take my OWLs. My main goal is to find the other members of the elementals team here."
"What exactly does that entail?"
"I am known as the elemental guardian of light. I have been tasked with finding guardians for air, water, shadow, earth, and fire.");
"Are you the only 1 that can determine 1 of these guardians?"
Harry nodded. "That doesn't mean others can't keep an eye out for people that display the elemental traits. For example, a guardian of air would be quite graceful while flying, and an earth guardian would be quite strong physically."
"Any other requirements?"
Harry sagged. "Yes, all the other guardians will be female."
That startled a laugh out of Albus. "Oh, you pour boy. You will have 5 girls all clamoring for your attention."
You could see a literal rain cloud over Harry's head. "It gets even worse. One of them will become my wife to carry on the elemental lines."
Albus laughed while Harry sulked for a few minutes. "Well that all aside, is there anything else I need to know?"
Harry straitened up. "Yess actually. Our own seer went over the prophecy you over heard back in 1980, and she determined that Riddle is not the Dark Lord it speaks of."
All color drained from Albus's face. "You are sure?"
Harry nodded. "Apparently there was more to the prophecy than you heard. It goes like this.
The 1 with the power to vanquish the dark lord approaches.
Born to those who have thrice defied him. Born as the seventh month dies.
And the dark lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the dark lord knows not, and either must die at the hand of the other. For neither can live while the other survives.
The 1 to vanquish the dark lord will be born as the seventh month dies.
The power will come from nature itself, but he will not fight alone.
And that witch has been trusted for so long will betray at the worse time.
Watch out for those who claim to be friends on high.
Not all is at it appears."
Albus sat back in shock. He had been so sure Voldemort was the dark lord of the prophecy. "Do they have any idea who we are fighting against?"
Harry shook his head. "I'm pretty sure there's a clue to the dark lord's identity in the prophecy, but I haven't been able to narrow it down. However, because of the wording of the last lines I would keep an eye on the staff here."
Albus sagged. He had been afraid of that. "Is there no way to weed out any of the staff?"
Harry chuckled. "Yes. We know it isn't you, and we're pretty sure it isn't Professor Snape."
Albus looked interested. "Can you explain how you ruled Severus an myself out?"
Harry grinned. "First for you. We have watched as you tried again, and again to make the life of every child that came to Hogwarts better in some way. It's not your fault that the board doesn't want to spend any of the money on improving the castle or classes. We think something is blocking your connection to the words. How else would a troll be able to enter the school, and you not know anything about it before Quirrell made his entrance. It would also explain why Riddle's diary was able to enter the school. Even though it contained the worse form of magic. Bar none."
"Oh, that reminds me. As head master of the castle, would you have any objection to me going down to the chamber of secrets to retrieve Miss Wesely's body for her family?"
Albus straitened in his chair. "You can get into the chamber?"
"I think so. From what we were able to discover, when Riddle tried to kill me, and it reflecting back on him, I'm probably the heir, if not the head of Slytherin."
Albus nodded. "As long as you don't mind me tagging along to seed the chamber."
Harry nodded. "I see no problem with that."
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An: and that's where we will be stopping this chapter. We have a little more to go over, but we also have a flashback at the start of the next chapter so I decided to have the rest of the conversation after that flashback.
As always I would like to here what you think, and if you have any suggestions. I have already picked Harry's team, so any suggestions on that will be placed in waiting for the next chance. I also already know who our villain is, so no suggestions on that either.
I know this limits suggestions, but that's what happens when their part of the outline I wrote for the story. Enough of that.
Anyway I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I will see you all next time.
