"Professor Dumbledore," Frank smiles with no emotion reaching his eyes. "How nice to see you—"
"Where is Harry Potter?" Dumbledore cut in harshly.
"Harry is here, where he's supposed to be." Sirius replied, and Dumbledore's gaze flashed even angrier for a moment as Sirius continued. "Hagrid told me you were going to send him over to Lily's sister and brother-in-law. I won't allow that, as Harry's Godfather."
"You won't allow it?" Dumbledore said incredulously. "Sirius, I don't recall needing your permission to do what is best for the Wizarding World, to work for the Greater Good."
"Frankly, Professor, I don't give a damn." Sirius took a step forward, and the look on his face was so filled with rage that even Frank and Augusta were alarmed. "I don't have a single bloody ounce of care to give about the rest of the Wizarding World anymore. I stopped caring when your idiotic second-chance ideology got Gideon and Fabian killed, and nearly offed Remus as well. And I certainly don't care now. James and Lily are gone, Dumbledore, don't you understand that?!" Sirius was shouting at the top of his voice by now, and was halfway between the Longbottoms and the Headmaster, whose face showed both shock and fury. "James is dead. Lily is dead. Harry nearly died too. We don't know where You-Know-Who or his Death Eaters are, and they could be here any minute looking for him. There's no way that I would ever –" Sirius was mere feet from Dumbledore, who was standing still and tall with the same angry shock on his face, and Sirius was nearly spitting on him. " – ever let the last part of the only people I ever loved more than Regulus be taken away from me. Especially not to those monsters that Lily had the misfortune to call blood relations."
Dumbledore was silent, unblinking. Neither he nor Sirius made any movement, nothing beyond Dumbledore's slow breaths and Sirius' heaving ones. Their fierce eye contact only broke after several minutes when Dumbledore closed his blue eyes, shutting out the gaze of Sirius' angry bloodshot brown ones.
"Sirius…" Dumbledore began, his eyes still closed. "I know you are angry, but you cannot just take Harry away from the protection that being with Petunia and Vernon Dursley will provide him – "
"What protection?!" Sirius screamed, still merely inches from Dumbledore's face, and the Headmaster's eyes shot back open. "What protection could those pieces of Muggle rubbish possibly give Harry that we couldn't?!"
"A blood protection, from Lily's sacrifice."
Sirius stood still, aside from his continually heaving breaths, as Dumbledore attempted to explain his theory about how since Lily's blood runs through Petunia's veins, then Lily's love sacrifice for Harry would offer protection as long as Petunia accepted him into her home.
At that, both Frank and Sirius let out laughs that caused Dumbledore to balk in surprise. "What?" He looked at the two men
"You really think Petunia would accept Harry into her home? Sure, she may allow him to live in her house, but that would never be his home." Frank scoffed. "Lily has – had – told Alice and I many stories of Petunia's hatred towards magical folk."
"It's the only way the blood protection would work, Frank. Lily has no other living relatives."
"I'm sure we could find somebody somewhere who is related to Lily Potter that isn't Petunia." Sirius shook his head in disbelief, still grinning. "Merlin, Frank, could you imagine? Petunia – that magic-hating filth – taking our boy?"
"Your boy?" Dumbledore raised an eyebrow.
Sirius' grin dropped into a murderous glare, and he whipped out his wand without thinking and pointed it directly into Dumbledore's chest, despite the yells from Augusta and Frank. "I'd rather go to Azkaban for murder than allow anybody to take my boy away from me."
Dumbledore didn't even flinch as the tip of Sirius' wand felt hot with his anger against his brand-new midnight blue robes – the slight damage of which bothered him more than the fact that Sirius was basically threatening his life. "Sirius –" He began in a harsh tone.
"No, Dumbledore. You are not taking Harry. He's staying here with me, and Augusta, and Frank, and Alice, and Neville, and he's going to grow up surrounded by love and magic instead of by hatred and abuse." Sirius' bloodshot eyes betrayed every ounce of fury he had in him, and for the first time in the entire conversation, Dumbledore was almost afraid.
Almost.
"I don't think you can stop me." Dumbledore pulled out his own wand as he spoke, and pointed it at Sirius without touching him. "I wouldn't try it if I were you."
"And if I were you, Albus Dumbledore, I would put that wand away."
Dumbledore looked toward the speaker and was shocked to see Augusta Longbottom suddenly merely feet away from him, pointing her wand directly at his face with the most outraged, protective facial expression that an old witch could ever wear. He glanced over her shoulder at Frank, who was also pointing his wand at Dumbledore with an expression that greatly resembled his mother's.
Before he could say anything to them, Dumbledore heard the sound of a door slamming, and saw Alice dashing towards them with her own wand drawn, stopping only to stand beside her husband and dawn a far more terrifying appearance and stance than both Frank and Augusta put together – mainly, of course, because nobody outside her closest friends ever really saw Alice angry.
Dumbledore looked back at Sirius, whose expression had not faltered. Even he, the all-powerful light wizard Albus Dumbledore, knew when it was more advantageous to back down from a fight than to engage, even if the results of the fight would greatly benefit the Wizarding World as a whole.
"This can't be over, Sirius." Dumbledore responded calmly, lowering his wand. "Harry needs protection."
"And you believe we can't provide it?" Augusta spat in anger.
"Of course I believe you can, Augusta." Dumbledore smiled sweetly at her, but it was so obviously fake that Augusta wanted to wipe it off his face without a wand. "I have faith in you and your son, and Alice of course. I just think –"
"You think leaving Harry without his Godfather, his mother's best friend, and the most powerful duelling witch of her generation is safer just because of some theory about blood wards?" Sirius cocked his head to the side like a curious dog, only his anger never faltered. "I beg to differ."
Dumbledore cursed internally. There was no way he was going to be able to leave Longbottom Manor with Harry; clearly, not without taking down the Longbottoms and Sirius, and then where would he be? He could always blame it on the Death Eaters, but he doubted he could get away with it.
"Alright, Sirius. I suppose we shall have to see whether or not the fate of the Wizarding World is worth you keeping your pride intact." Dumbledore turned away from Sirius and began walking towards the edge of the wards.
"My pride?!" Sirius barked, and he took a step to follow Dumbledore before Augusta reached out and grabbed his arm. "You think this is about my pride?!" He yelled again towards Dumbledore's retreating figure.
"Let him go for now, Sirius." She muttered to him. "He's just too afraid to admit it's his pride at stake, not yours."
Dumbledore stepped outside the wards, feeling the glares of two powerful wizards and two powerful witches at his back. He sighed to himself, and stood there silently for a few minutes, wondering how he was going to get Harry away from Longbottom Manor. Just before he was about to leave, he noticed some figures approaching.
Immediately recognizing them as Death Eaters, he almost drew his wand to fight them off before realizing that it was better if he didn't.
If Death Eaters took down the Longbottoms and Sirius, and then he – Dumbledore – swooped in to save Harry, then that would not only get rid of those obstacles but paint Dumbledore as more of a hero.
Instead, he apparated just outside of their eyesight, watching and waiting for the perfect time to return into the Manor's wards.
As he saw who he recognized as the Lestranges lead the charge in attempting to take down the wards, he almost felt bad for what he was doing – the Lestranges, especially Bellatrix, were known to be ruthless, torturous, and completely merciless.
But then again… the people standing between Dumbledore and the Greater Good always needed to come down, at any cost.
A/N: Thank you for reading, and thank you to PixieGirl94 and Tarla2020 for their reviews. Stay safe everyone!