Hey everyone,
I'm going to be honest, when I first wrote this chapter, I thought that there was a high chance that this story was going to end soon. I was going to have this chapter cover Dumbledore, his actions and his newest mistake, then there was going to be a discussion between the Pomfrey sisters, the Unspeakables doing the job Harry set them and then I would either end this story with Lea cleansing Harry or focus a little more on Harry's pregnancy and then end the story at the end of it. However, this story took a life of its own and
Proved me wrong,

Venquine1990


Chapter 15
Decisions And Mistakes

1st of November 1995
Great Hall, Hogwarts
Dumbledore's POV

"Students of Hogwarts, I require your attention." I state, making sure that my voice is heard loud and clear throughout the entire Great Hall. And while most of the students had already just been silently eating their breakfast or whispering amongst each other, does everyone now fall silent. And while my mind is busily focused on what can come from all of this, do I speak up and say:
"I just want you all to know, with permission from Regent Pomfrey and Lord Black, what took place yesterday during the last hour of classes. As those of you in either Seventh Year Gryffindor or Ravenclaw already know, a few NEWTs students, under the lead of Mr. Roger Davies, made an attempt to attack Mr. Potter's person. Their attack was actually aimed at his belly and Mr. Davies even admitted that the child within was their target.
Therefore, I have no grief or reluctance when I say that all five of them, both Mr. Davies who was being kept from joining the fight, and the four students who lay in waiting to trap and attack Mr. Potter, have been expelled from Hogwarts. And for those of you wondering where they are now, they have already been taken into custody by Madam Bones and were escorted off of Hogwarts premise last night before dinner by her and Lord Black.
Lord Black himself is right now at Gringotts to discuss terms of what will transpire in the trial of these five young teens with their parents and to make sure that the parents will know the story from both sides; that of the offenders and the victim. However, let it be clear that Mr. Isa and the other friends of young Lea will not be held responsible for how they reacted to keeping Mr. Potter safe from the attack and how they gave young Lea the chance to get his mate to safety.

And for those of you worried for Mr. Potter, I have confirmation from Madam Pomfrey that he is doing well, that the attack did not do enough damage to endanger his life or even hit his womb and that he will be back in classes tomorrow. She just desires to have him stay in bed for the day so that he may make a full recovery and be given the time to get closure with the fact that he had an attempt made on his child, one that, I repeat, was unsuccessful."
And this does indeed make quite a few students, a lot more than I had expected since the Lions have grown more and more resentful of Harry for staying in his own private rooms and not spending time in the common room, sigh and mutter words of relief. And the few Lions that do this and then get glared at actually seem brave enough to glare back. Yet as I return to my seat, do I share a quick look with Minerva and Remus, who is seated at the Head Table.
Remus nods, yet as I sit down, does Minerva whisper: "I can't join you, Albus. My Seventh years are revising for their end of the semester exams. You know, the ones that will let me know what to focus on to make sure they can successfully pass their NEWTs exams. I can't be kept away from these classes, not this week." And while I feel slightly disappointed, do I nod in understanding at the woman who has always been there for me.

Slowly but surely the Great Hall empties out and as it does, do I suddenly realize that just talking with Remus in here is a much better idea. After being told to keep my Harry guard away from Harry or face the consequences of one of them, Dung, having been unable to keep his greedy hands to himself, did I decide that a change of the crew would be in order and that, after Harry gave birth, I could offer this new set of guards to keep his baby safe for him.
But now I feel like I can, if nothing else, get Remus to agree to let one of them to join him as well as the new arrivals – or Keyblade Gang as they have started calling themselves – in keeping Harry safe, including inside Harry's rooms. And while I do know that Harry himself is entirely against this, can I not help but remember a little something that happened when Lea arrived; young Kairi asking what the man named Isa was doing here and sounding terrified.
Because of this do I feel sure that young Isa is the Pettigrew of this group and all I truly want is for one of my men, someone in the Order, to try and out him as such before he can hurt Harry the same way Pettigrew hurt James, Sirius, Remus and their friendship with him all those years ago. And so, while waiting for the hall to empty, do I send a silent quick message to my new guards.

Come here, to the Great Hall, and wait outside. Make sure you're not seen until I call you in. We might get our goal done much quicker. I send to Horace Slughorn, who I managed to get into the Order after telling him about Lily's son following in her footsteps, John Dawlish, Rufus Scrimgeour and a few others who have joined the Order the last few months. Yet while I do this, do I turn to Remus and ask:
"Thank you for waiting, Remus. How is Harry doing? How is the baby?" And the man takes a deep breath as he says: "Both are fine, Albus. Lea unfortunately caused Harry a bit of a scar when he tried to heal the magical cut with his own form of magic, which was something Harry's body wasn't used to, but Poppy said that the scar won't be lasting and that it will be gone by dinner tonight. And the two of them have definitely grown closer."
This intrigues me and I ask: "Really, how?" The man shrugs and smiles as he says: "You know the old saying, Albus. Strive can either break up great friendships or make their bonds all the closer. And the strive of the attack definitely caused the latter with these two. And Harry, being the selfless little brat that he is, won't even hear of Lea blaming himself for not seeing the attack coming."

The man shakes his head at this, yet it confuses me and I ask: "How, exactly, is that a problem? Is it not a good thing that Harry doesn't hold such an unfortunate event against someone who wasn't even the main cause of the event?" And Remus explains the whole thing as he says: "That is definitely good, but Harry is a bit of a hypocrite. He's been blaming himself for what happened to Cedric for months, but won't let Lea blame himself for this."
At this I want to say: "Well, the two situations are quite different." But then catch myself and think: "No, not really. Harry did not kill Cedric no more than that Lea tried to kill his own baby. Yes, I can see why Remus would think it hypocritical of Harry to be like this. Not that it matters. It stays a good thing that Harry is willing to be this caring, this forgiving." Yet while I wish that I could be granted some of that forgiveness, do I just ignore this desire.

Instead I decide to get to the point and say: "Remus, I would like to offer my apology to what occurred yesterday. Like Harry, I should have suspected something to happen as it had been happening every year. I was just careless and believed that, with Dolores out of the picture and the teachers paying close attention to their own Houses, nothing could happen. Filius and Minerva also feel terrible. They would be here to say so, except they have important classes to teach."
The man nods and says: "No one in our group blames the staff, Albus. We blame the students. Though we would like to ask Minerva and Filius to spend some more time in their common rooms. It might make it so that they can catch their students having similar desires before they can turn those desires into actions." At this I nod, knowing that both of my close friends and trusted staff will agree on this and decide to take my chance:
"Speaking of the common rooms, Remus –." But the man shakes his head and says: "They're not going back, Albus. Ginny, Ron, Neville and Hermione are willing to return, if only to reaffirm their friendships with those few students who have never turned on Harry over the years, but not Harry. He doesn't feel safe there and the fact that it was students in the twins' year and dorm just worsened that. That's why the twins aren't willing to join their younger siblings."

At this I sigh and think to myself: "Right, wrong timing. Try to just move on. My goal is in sight, now to get to it." I lean back in my seat and say: "Remus, I will not lie to you. There's a second reason I am not holding Mr. Isa responsible for his actions. You see, I want to earn his trust. I want him to come to me, to confess to his sins, the sins that made Mss. Kairi so scared when she saw him upon his and their friends' arrival here a few weeks ago.
Remus, I will not lie to you. I believe that –." But I notice that Remus is frowning at me and he states: "Albus, for the love of Merlin, stop! Stop believing that you are the only one who remembers the horrors of the last war. Stop believing that you are the only one able to see lies from the truth. Stop believing that you are the only one who knows right from wrong. Do you really, actually, think that Sirius and I were just going to trust these guys right off the bat?
We heard Kairi just like you did and we made sure to take both her and Isa apart over the first week that they had been staying here. We questioned them both and learned the full story. It's why we trust Isa, because there were parts to the story of his that Kairi herself didn't know about. Plus, when we suggested it, Isa told us he would sign a Contract of Fealty on any day at any time, just to prove to us both that he is that willing to prove himself worthy of our trust.

Isa made mistakes. He admitted this himself. But he has also been the one person, besides Lea, who has been most protective and caring of Harry. He, like Damian, considers Harry his little brother and he told me that, if there is one thing he doesn't want to let happen, it's for his emotions – namely the sense of jealousy that led him to making his mistakes – to get the better of him. Because of this, he has conversations with Poppy, nightly, to make sure it doesn't happen."
This really intrigues me as Remus fells me with an unimpressed stare and says: "And this is something – that Sirius told you three weeks ago, when Isa started with these conversations." He then spares a short glance at the doors and says: "Something you obviously didn't listen to – because it didn't come from your guards – who are currently waiting for your signal outside the Great Hall."

This startles me and Remus taps his nose as he says: "Werewolf, remember. I can smell those potions ingredients from miles." I wince at this and decide to come clean as I say: "My apologies for that, Remus. And please convey my apologies to both Isa for suspecting him and Sirius for not listening to him back then. As for the guards, I put them together over the last few weeks, so that, when Harry has his baby, he will have someone to protect the little one while he's in class."
Yet at this Remus rolls his eyes and says: "Yeah, great idea. It's not like he has a godfather who has been spending every waking hour in his rooms. It's not like he has a Soul mate who is already past the Hogwarts graduation age. It's not like that soul mate has a whole group of friends that have shown just how protective they are these past few weeks. No, we need people who are complete strangers to protect Harry. You really just don't learn, do you Albus?"
I grimace as I suddenly remember that picking three people Harry has never met as potential mothers for his child was just what made Harry stop trusting me. Remus sighs and says: "You know, Harry feels bad from time to time. He still catches himself calling the baby his instead of theirs, like Lea does all the time. But because none of us blame him over that, will I not blame you over making the same mistake. Let's face it, Albus, this decision is because, like Harry, you keep forgetting that."

I feel the need to rub the back of my neck at this, yet refrain from it and Remus turns back to the Great Hall doors as he asks: "Do you know why Sirius and I are so against those guards, Albus? Other than that most of them are people Harry has never met?" I shake my head and Remus startles and astounds me as he says: "We are, because Sirius doesn't even trust me in that role anymore. And after that whole debacle with Umbridge, I don't blame him.
Sirius trusts Lea's friends, because he has extensively questioned them and tested their reliability and their trustworthiness. And now, I'm going to offer you something special; a compromise. A long-termed plan that will, in the end, make everyone feel happy, safe and trusted. You interested?" I instantly nod my head, feeling beyond amazed that the man is still willing to give me this chance as his behavior and that of the others have made me feel as if such a thing would never happen again. The man nods and says:

"Here's my compromise. Over the course of the next week or so, one of Lea's friends – one, Albus – will come to your office and you can have Minerva and Molly with them while they come. You can then question them the way Sirius did or give them an interview as if they are applying for a job or something and get to know them. However, if they answer a question with sorry that's private, you will respect that.
What can you gain from this? The assurance that Sirius got when he got his answers, the confirmation that your concerns for Isa and his trustworthiness are unfounded and a chance to give Lea's friends a chance to trust you. And if you do that and, say, have one of these new guards in the room as well, then those friends can question that guard. And through that, they can determine if they want that guard to help them protect Harry or not.
Of course, the final decision will stay with Harry and Lea and there will be meetings between the guards that gain Gang's approval, but in the end, you will get what you want and Harry will get what he wants. You just have to content with one single restriction." And because I can barely believe that I am being offered this much, do I happily acknowledge: "No guards in the private rooms." And Remus smiles at me, the same proud smile on his face as I always remember it being there.


You learn, Dumbledore.
So yeah, I wasn't really planning to make Dumbledore someone stupid or someone who can just be bashed for the sake of bashing, more like someone who just wants to be in control and who, if he doesn't know someone inside out, has trouble trusting them. Dumbledore has always struck me as someone who has mayor trust and control issues and I try to bring that side of him out in this story, but I don't want it to be his only attribute.
You get me,

Venquine1990