Chapter Forty Nine

Harry huddled against the wall. He wasn't sure why he was breathing any more. There was no noise from the office which still held his mother, father and baby sister. Was Danica even still alive? If she wasn't breathing any more, Harry didn't want to either; it was that simple.

The door to the office opened again. This time it was Lily who came out, also covered in blood.

"Harry?" she asked, crouching down next to him.

Harry's eyes snapped into focus, "Mum… Danica… blood… is she?"

Lily blinked the tears from her eyes, "She's… she's alive, at the moment, but it's…"

Harry nodded, still feeling impossibly numb and overwhelmed at the same time.

"I need to go… there's something I have to do." Lily said, "Are you going to be OK?"

Harry nodded, uncurling himself and stretching out his arms and legs.

Hermione and he watched as Lily walked quickly down the corridor.

"Stay here." Harry told Hermione, "See if you come across anyone else from the DA and give them the potion to help you all."

"Where are you going?" Hermione asked.

"I need to… Dumbledore said he wouldn't let anyone get hurt." Harry said, feeling himself start to be able to think again; two bouts of shock in one night was going to leave anyone a little fussy.

"Harry… do you think we should give the potion to Danica?" Hermione asked, "If she's alive it might help?"

Harry looked at the door, feeling another punch of pain hit him, "No. Dad knew I had it; if it would help, he'd of asked for it already."

Hermione nodded and Harry took off after his mother. He expected to lose her, and was very surprised when they both reached the corridor to Dumbledore's office.

Lily stood in front of the gargoyle and demanded entrance. Harry was almost temped to go up and tell her that it didn't work that way, that you needed to password but something told him she would send him away if she knew he was there.

For the first time ever, the gargoyle spoke, "Professor Dumbledore isn't here." it said in a stony, rough version of Dumbledore's voice.

"Then where is he?" Lily hissed.

"In the Astronomy Tower." the gargoyle said.

Harry dived behind a suit of armour as his mother turned, sweeping past him and towards the Astronomy Tower.

Harry however, went the other way.

Every once in a while he would hear the noise of fighting echoing from somewhere, but he kept moving.

The rain stung Harry's face as he burst out of the side door. He didn't even think about how wet he was getting in the driving rain, dressed only in a thin t-shirt but carried on.

He fell hard, tripping over something large and solid. Harry felt for his glasses, shoving them back on his nose and raising his wand to light up what he'd tripped over.

Fenrir was laying, stone cold and motionless on the grass, a large lightening bolt magically carved across his heart. Harry couldn't manage to feel even the smallest bit of sadness for him.

It clicked in Harry's head that it was almost certainly Fenrir that had attacked Danica. Harry wished that Fenrir had suffered more.

Scrambling to his feet Harry left the dead monster behind him and reached the base of the Astronomy tower and went in through the small emergency door. It was always a long climb to the top of the tower, where he was sure that Dumbledore was and his shoes were so wet and muddy he kept slipping and having to grip the wall to stop himself from falling down the steep, stone steps.

He'd just reached the third level from the top when he heard footsteps behind him. Harry made a decision and ducked into the second level from the top. He needed to make sure he wasn't seen.

He knew there as a four foot hollow space between the levels and took out his wand, carefully cutting a space in celling boards and scrambling up into the crawl space for the floor below, where he could peak through the floor boards quite easily.

Dumbledore was already there, wand in his good hand but with his back to the door, looking out of the large window.

The door opened, no knock and wait, but also no hurry.

Dumbledore took a deep breath and turned to face Lily, "There was a time you wouldn't have thought of entering a classroom without knocking." he said, a smile playing on his lips.

"Expelliarmus." Lily said, far more calmly than she felt, sending Dumbledore's wand flying from his hand and down to the grass at the bottom of the tower.

It was then that she knew. She was good, very good and far better than most even, but there was no way she should have been able to disarm him so easily. Lily took a very deep breath.

"A lot has changed." Lily said with a small shrugged, "Time was you would never of allowed yourself to be disarmed so easily."

Dumbledore gave her a rather tense look of shock, "Allowed? I hardly think I allowed myself to be disarmed. No, you got the better of me I'm afraid."

"No." Lily said, a note of finality in her voice, "I didn't."

"You know I expected Severus." Dumbledore said, shifting his weight slightly.

Lily smiled and shook her head in disbelief, flicking her long, red hair back over her shoulder, "Yes… I thought you might. I'm sorry to disappoint you, but Severus is rather busy fighting to save our daughter's life."

"How is Danica?" Dumbledore said, looking remorseful, "I never meant for her to get hurt you know."

Lily glared at him, "When I left her she was alive, but that monster… you have a poor way of showing not waiting her to get hurt."

Dumbledore lowered his eyes, "I know it must seem that way but-"

"But what?!" Lily shouted, "You told me to bring her! You said you were having a meeting for gods sake! But what?!"

"I needed Harry to understand." Dumbledore said, breathing deeply. He reached into his robes and pulled another pain potion free, drinking it down in one, "It wasn't meant to happen this way, I can promise you that. Harry was meant to come with me this evening, it would have weakened me… but he refused."

Lily smiled, "I raised him well. He's not as much of a puppet as you thought."

Dumbledore glared at her, "If I had been weaker it would have been enough to let-"

"To force Severus to kill you." Lily corrected him, "He told me what you asked, of course he did. He also told me he'd recently given you enough high strength pain potions for at least six months, how many do you have left?"

Dumbledore looked at her in shock for a minute before his hardened, "You have no idea what the pain is like Lily, I can't think straight…" as he spoke another stabbing pain tracked up his arm, adding to the already constant aching that made it hard for him to move.

"Well… at least you have an excuse." Lily sneered, "But then, this pain was caused by you in the first place."

Dumbledore looked at his finger where the ring had sat, a mixture of regret and power lust flashing across his face.

"What did it tell you, exactly?" Lily demanded.

"It was for the greater good." Dumbledore repeated to himself.

"What. Did. It. Tell. You." Lily hissed.

Dumbledore shook his head, "It told me it would increase my power… it would help me win…"

Lily let out a laugh, she couldn't help herself, "It's a part of Voldemort and it was going to give you some more power?"

Dumbledore rubbed his forehead, "Well… I… I wanted to take every-"

"You wanted the power for yourself, don't lie. You always lie! You lie so often and to everyone!" Lily snapped, "You trick and you lie and you manipulate and now my baby girl lies dying so you could feel in charge, playing god with everyone!"

"If that is what you choose to believe." Dumbledore said simply.

Lily forced herself to take a very deep breath, rolling her eyes. He was getting to her, she couldn't help it but she couldn't let it happen.

Harry sat, hunched in the floor boards looking between his mother and Dumbledore. He was right, Dumbledore wasn't all right, he was dying, or at least in more pain than he could cope with. It explained why his behaviour had been so strange this year.

Dumbledore stayed looking at Lily, not moving.

"You're right." Dumbledore said, apparently unable to bare the silence any longer, "I just want to say, I really do hope Danica will be all right."

Lily sent a sharp bolt of light into Dumbledore's direction, only just missing; Harry wasn't sure if she had meant to miss but he really wish she'd hit. Harry had never hated someone as much as he hated Dumbledore right now.

Fenrir attacked Danica, but Dumbledore had set it up and that made it as much his fault. Besides, Fenrir was already dead.

Harry took several deep breaths, he was struggling to breathe there was so much anger building inside him, he was physically shaking.

"She will never be all right." Lily hissed dangerously, "You know that! Best case scenario she lives, but that's it. She'll be scarred for life, there is every…" Lily closed her eyes for a moment, grounding herself, "I know you're trying to anger me, I know you want me to kill you."

Dumbledore narrowed his eyes, "Well I… I've fattened your son up for the slaughter, I've possibly killed your daughter. What sort of mother would fail to protect her children now?" his voice filled the tower, giving Lily a clear challenge.

Lily smiled slightly, "Oh, know that it would be so easy for me to kill you now and had I lived these last years with James, you would already be dead or screaming, but I've lived with Slytherins for too long to actually kill you."

Dumbledore's head snapped towards her, his ice blue eyes bearing down at her, "What are you talking about?"

Lily shrugged, "I know why you wanted to die so badly, before the summer as you said to Severus. It wasn't just because you'd be an idiot and cursed yourself with that ring, it was because you wanted to die a martyr. You want to forever be remembered as the legendary headmaster who died to save everyone. But you're not, and I'll make sure the world knows that."

Dumbledore took a deep breath and a threatening step towards her, "Lily-"

"No." Lily said firmly, "No, no more. You will not die a martyr Albus, you will die a pathetic old man who can't even care for himself and used children to bring him glory. They won't worship your memory, they will hate you and then they will forget about you. You. Will. Be. Nothing."

Dumbledore looked her up and down, as though he were only seeing her for the first time properly, "Please… I… I was just trying to help… for the greater good."

"And if you really believe that, I have nothing more to say to you. There is no point arguing with some one who simply refuses to learn." Lily said, "Goodbye Albus."

Harry watched as his mother said nothing more, ignoring the cries, shouts and threats from Dumbledore and closed the door softly behind her, leaving Dumbledore completely alone.