A/N: Thank you all so much for your reviews, favorites and follows after last chapter! Huge thanks to lanamarymack and Angela 007 for alpha/beta reading this chapter. After this, there is one regular chapter left and then an epilogue. You can find me on tumblr: nauticalparamour.
Please let me know what you thought of chapter forty-seven and be on the lookout for forty-eight soon!
When he had been young, Albus Dumbledore had had his one great folly. His intense and oftentime passionate relationship with Gellert which had taken him down paths that were nearly too dark to bear.
It had started innocently enough. Both he and Gellert had developed a deep interest in the Deathly Hallows, each one dreaming of finding the objects so that they might conquer death with one another. But, Gellert had decidedly darker interests and Albus hadn't known the depths of his depravity until much later.
Eventually Gellert had whispered in his ear about his other plans after passionate encounters in the woods - a desire to bring down the Statute of Secrecy.
It was almost too easy for Albus to be seduced by Gellert's special brand of madness. He had been naive, chafing against the Statute of Secrecy himself. He had felt an intense guilt and shame that he hadn't been able to protect his dear sister from her Muggle tormentors, which ultimately destroyed his family. Gellert was always there to whisper in his ear questions, pushing him further and further...
Why should the Muggles not know about our magic? We are more powerful than them - why should we be forced to hide it away? Muggles aren't afraid to use their power against us. It would only be fair to fight back.
It had been too easy to agree, but it brought about the ruination of his family, the death of his sister, and he had never forgiven himself for being so seduced by dark promises to rule the world. Even the act of besting Grindelwald had not been enough to absolve himself.
In that moment, he had taken it upon himself to make the right decisions for the wizarding world, to ensure that dark magic never got a foothold in the Wizarding World, and to force people to see that Muggles were not the enemy.
However, Tom Riddle being fairly elected as Minister For Magic meant that he had failed miserably at what he set out to do.
Sighing, Albus took a long drink of the firewhiskey in front of him at the Hog's Head. Aberforth was good enough to know that he needed to be left alone, but he kept pouring whenever he signaled to his brother.
It was rare for Albus Dumbledore to be quite so wrong about something. He had thought about the day that he'd met the time traveler again and again, dissecting every miniscule moment in his penseive until he was certain he'd have every second burned into his memory for the rest of his days. Why had he reacted so strongly to Hermione Granger when she told him her story?
He knew now that it was because there was a secret part of him that had never let go of the dark secrets Gellert had whispered into his ear. While he hadn't wanted to dominate the world forcefully, he couldn't deny that the thought of being the string puller behind the scenes of power appealed to him. That he'd never relinquished the need for power. Power over others. Being the true master of the Elder Wand certainly had only bolstered him over the years. And no one even knew!
So yes, Hermione Granger had made him panic. And he'd unwittingly sent her into the arms of the very man that she knew needed to be stopped. And now she'd helped him to become Minister For Magic.
He pressed the cool glass to his forehead, wondering how he was going to fix this now. All the support that he'd gained over the years, culminating after his duel with Grindelwald, felt as if it had vanished in the blink of an eye in the Wizengamot. He'd lost so many steadfast witches and wizards that he felt his reputation was in tatters. Even stalwart Edgar Bones had betrayed him, sending a wink at that infernal witch in the process!
Stilling, he felt as if she haunted him even now. Was that her voice that he heard?
"Excuse me, Professor Dumbledore?" the voice repeated a second time, a timid tap of the hand on his shoulders.
He turned to look at Hermione Granger, without the energy to even offer her a sneer. "Come to gloat, Miss Granger?" he asked, before returning his attention to the glass in front of him. He wondered what it was about her that had so captured Tom's eye. She was obviously lovely, but Albus did not think that Tom was swayed by lust or love. There must be something more.
"No," she said in a hushed tone. "I need to speak with you about something of great importance."
Albus paused, realizing that she did not have anything to say about the use of her name, Miss Granger, a purposeful point of contention in all their recent meetings. Intrigued, he pointed to the seat next to him and waved Aberforth over to pour her a firewhiskey as well.
Hermione sat down in the chair and looked around the dingy bar - looking over her shoulder - before she lowered the hood on her navy cloak. Her clothing was a mix of muggle and wizarding, a refreshing act of defiance from the rest of the witches in her circle. Once her glass was placed in front of her, she took a fortifying drink before turning to look at him.
"Are we...are we free to speak here?" she asked, wetting her lower lip nervously. "There are no... unfriendly ears?"
Now, his curiosity was fully piqued. "Yes, you may speak freely," he agreed, turning to look at her. "Whatever you wish to share will remain between the two of us." To make her feel better, he pulled out his wand and put up a few spells designed to prevent eavesdropping, though there was no one else in the Hog's Head save Aberforth, and despite his differences with his brother, Albus did not think he would betray him.
"This will be the second time that I come to you for help, Dumbledore," she said, before taking another draw of her firewhiskey. "Please do me the courtesy of actually listening to me this time. I do not like to imagine what should happen to you if you raise your wand against me again."
Albus scoffed, but then his eyes strayed to the delicate ring that she wore, her fingers toying with it endlessly, twisting the band around and around. "I deserve that," he said, willing to put his pride on the line. He needed to hear what she had to say. "Now, what is troubling you?"
She looked at him with her large, brown eyes widened. "I think that...I think that Tom and his friends have something awful planned for the autumnal equinox," she explained, her voice wavering.
"It was my understanding that you attended their autumnal equinox last year," Dumbledore said gently. "I am sure that nothing should surprise you about what is going to occur."
"Yes, I did," Hermione admitted, even though it was against the law. It would be enough for him to turn her in right there, and have Tom Riddle and his friends investigated, Minister or not. But, he wasn't blind to the turning tides in the Wizengamot. He did not think that the majority would choose to investigate, given the way that they had responded to the promises of restoration of Wizarding culture. "But that's not what I mean."
"Then what do you mean?" Dumbledore pressed, wishing she would just spit it out already. He did not like having to pull things out of her. If only she would just say what she meant!
"I am worried that they might have plans to...to harm me," she whispered, her eyes darting down to the counter. She hunched over, as if she were trying to make herself as small as possible. "Maybe even kill me."
"You? Nonsense," Albus said, dismissing the suggestion out of turn. "You are the Minister's wife. They couldn't just kill you. People would have too many questions."
Her head snapped up. "But you don't disagree that they are capable of killing me?" she demanded. "Only that people would have questions about my sudden disappearance? I promise you, I have no one in this world but Tom and his friends, because I am not of this world. People might have questions for a while, but they would forget me soon enough. I would wink out of existence, just like I winked into it."
"I believe your fears are unfounded," Albus repeated, thinking that it was just too far-fetched.
"You of all people know how persuasive Tom can be," Hermione argued. "He could get out of it."
"What makes you think that you are being targeted?" he asked, knowing that she was at least a little bit right about Tom. And now that he was the Minister, that only gave him more power to make things disappear.
"It was something that Edmond said," she said, her eyes focusing on the shelf of bottles behind the bar. "Last year I made a... a sacrifice at the equinox and he said that he'd heard I was going to be doing it again, even though I never said anything about it."
"Surely he just imagines you will do the same as last year," he suggested, unconvinced.
"You don't understand, I think that they are going to sacrifice me. I'm not going to be giving the sacrifice, I am going to be the sacrifice," she said, sounding miserable. "And why shouldn't they? I'm just a muggleborn and you know what they think of muggleborns."
She did have a point there. Muggleborns were the lowest of the low in the estimation of the Malfoys and the Blacks of the world, even muggleborns who caught the eye of Tom Riddle. Or maybe, especially muggleborns who caught the eye of Tom Riddle.
"I understand your concern there," he said, hoping to validate her fears. He knew that it was with great personal sacrifice that she must have come to him about this. "But don't you think that Tom would put a stop to this? You are married - presumably he has strong feelings for you?"
Though, that gave Albus pause. He did not believe that Tom was capable of emotions like love, so what if he'd only been using Hermione to get something he wanted?
Her eyes looked around wildly. "Did you know that Tom only suggested that we get hand-fasted at first?" she asked him, twisting her ring around and around. "He didn't want a full marriage. Not to mention that he didn't even come up with the idea of marriage in the first place. It was all because of Caroline. And Malfoy and his image obsession and how it would look for the campaign." Her fingertip rubbed along the jewel at the center of her ring, almost as if she were soothing it.
"A hand-fasting is very traditional," he said weakly, though he could clearly see her points.
"Yes, but necessary because of Caroline," she countered. "Now that I've had the baby and now that he's been elected, it's almost like he has no use for me anymore. I've served my purpose and now I have a new purpose to serve them. As a...as a sacrifice."
"This is very troubling indeed," Albus said, leaning towards her the longer that she spoke. She had outlined a compelling argument for why she might be in trouble. "I understand why you came to me."
"Of course, because you are the only one who can help me," she said, imploring him with those brown eyes, just like she had when she first met him. "Somebody needs to stop them from hurting me and it can't be anyone but you."
"I've handled wizards like Tom Riddle before," he said, thinking of Gellert.
"He will do anything to win," she whispered, her eyes dropping to her lap. Her face was twisted into a queer sort of grimace. "It won't be easy."
"I will be able to stop him and save you Miss Granger," he promised. "And then finally you will be free from that monster."
"So you will come to save me?" she asked, sounding utterly hopeful for the first time since she'd sat down. "You will have to come alone. Now that Tom is Minister...I just don't think that you can trust anyone else with this."
"Naturally," he agreed, knowing that this sort of thing couldn't get out, unless they were discovered. Things were more perilous than ever.
"Okay," she said, breathing out a sigh of relief.
She proceeded to tell him everything about the layout of the Lestranges' lands and the best way for him to get to the ritual location. It would not be easy, but Albus was sure that he could rectify some of the wrong that he had done.