Chapter 69: Dumbledore realizes he's been marginalized
“Who cleaned up in here?” Hermione asked as they were passing through the troll room. There were still piles off in the corners but the path was clear, and the troll was gone.
“We cleared a path when we came through,” Kitsumi informed her. “A common household cleaning spell. Not the troll, Don’t know where he is, just all the other stuff.”
“We did not wish to walk through piles of troll dung,” Aerie added.
“You took time to clean?” McGonagall asked, curious.
“Well, a slip and fall could have cost us more than time. We were trying to stop them before they got to the last room.”
“Fair enough I suppose.”
Professor McGonagall personally walked Aerie, Hermione, Neville, and Aurora back up to the dorm where she gave a brief synopsis to the dorm prefects and head boy. Professor Flitwick took Hoshiko upstairs and said only that she’d been about Hogwarts' business that had been required of her. Ron would spend the night in the medical wing, and Dumbledore returned just as Madam Hooch was showing Mrs Silverwood, Kitsumi, baby Devlin, and Doctor Strange out the front door. Filch had joined them at the entrance to the third-floor corridor on the group's return. He’d been skulking about in hopes of finding students out of bed and had completely missed out on the adventure into the bowels of the school and was presently hanging back some distance away.
“Hang on, who are you?” Dumbledore asked Doctor Strange. “And what is that?”
“That,” he held up the trap. “Is the former Lord Voldemort. The crisis has been managed.”
“Everything worked out,” Mrs Silverwood informed him. “And I must commend you on setting a trap with no bait. Brilliant.” She didn’t really believe it had been Dumbledore who’d thought to make sure the stone never made its way to that trap.
“Ron will be spending the night in the hospital wing,” Madam Hooch offered. “This Gentleman is Doctor Strange. The person who provided the trap.”
“Trap?” Snape asked. He’d been right next to Dumbledore.
“As you are undoubtedly aware, Hermione, Ron, and Neville breached the third-floor corridor.”
“Aerie suspected they might so we put together our own plan just in case they did,” Mrs Silverwood informed him. “We didn’t want to step on your toes, but everything happened so quickly. The girls, Aerie, Hoshiko, and Kitsumi went down after them and with the help of our Night Mares confronted Lord Voldemort.”
“Indeed. And I can’t help but notice you aren’t shying away from saying Voldemort.”
“Ah, that pesky spell,” Doctor Strange mused as he held the trap up. “He’s right here. He’s welcome to eavesdrop all he wants.”
Snape actually laughed. He recovered himself quickly enough.
“Professor, that other matter?” Mrs Silverwood asked. “Concerning Draco.”
“Ah, not good I’m afraid. Lucius Malfoy… as far as he is concerned the boy is dead and he’ll not recognize a girl as his. I swear that man is as cold as ice.”
"Draco's father... her father, was... disturbingly cold on the matter," Snape added.
“Reminds me of the Le Strange family,” Mrs Silverwood remarked. Theirs was a family that would cast out any girls born into the family.
"I informed Lucius that Hagrid was suspended," Dumbledore added, but he didn't seem to care until I informed him that in the future Hagrid would not be trusted with young students."
"He was upset that he no longer has a male heir," Snape informed them. "I tried to remind him that he could adopt the boy young Malfoy marries, and he wouldn't hear it."
"About what she expected, I'm afraid," Mrs Silverwood replied and turned as to go. "And I dare say she may well be better off for it."
“Just one more thing before you go… were you perhaps babysitting?” Dumbledore couldn't help but notice the babe.
“That’s Professor Quirrel,” Madam Hooch informed him. “And we are in need of a new DADA teacher.”
“That… that’s Quirinus?”
“I’d given Aerie a vial of the water from the Fountain of Youth to use to revive him once he’d been freed from the wraith. He was only supposed to get a few drops. He drank the whole vial.”
“I’d heard rumors that the fountain was real.”
“No.”
“I wasn’t going to ask.”
“Professor Quirrel is lucky. He’s going to get a brand new start as Devlin, last name yet to be determined, and I’ll be damned if I’m going to hand him over to his family just to see him follow the same path all over again. The thing is, regarding the water, those who drink of the well don’t always remain human.”
“Well, there is still the stone… if I can remember where I put it.”
“Professor, if you would amuse me, what color was that stone?”
“It’s red. Why do you ask.”
“Philosopher’s stones, AKA Sorcerer’s stones are a light sky blue. Not red. I’ve seen Nicolas Flamel, he’s not exactly brimming with vitality. Given the stone you have is red, I suspect that it’s a Blood Stone. It’ll do much of what a sorcerer's stone will do, make gold and grant the user years unnumbered so long as the stone lasts, but it doesn’t grant youth and vitality which are the hallmarks of a true stone.”
“She’s not wrong,” Doctor Strange offered. He then made a gesture with his free hand, and a golden portal opened up, he stepped through, the portal closed, and he was gone.
The two wizards looked on in dismay, their minds trying to make sense of what they’d just witnessed.
“That’s how he arrived,” Madam Pomfrey informed the two. “He follows the Tibetan School and is a Sorcerer. Not a wizard. Apparently, the wards don’t stop him.”
“His portal spell mimics that of the Phoenix,” Mrs Silverwood informed them.
“Ah, I see,” Dumbledore responded, his wits returning to him. “So, what were you planning on doing with…”
“Devlin?” Mrs Silverwood asked. “Take him home for now. He needs a wet nurse and I know just the pony.”
“Pony?” Snape asked.
“Milk is milk when one is in need and our ponies are all Akkadian and compatible with humans. If the truth ever gets out, I doubt there’d be a witch who’d want him save the most petty climbers.”
“Might be best to tell the world he died then,” Dumbledore mused. “Dare we say he fought Voldemort?”
“Might be best to leave that name out of it. Just say he was defending the students from a creature that had made its way through the wards. Or you could tell the truth, that he’d been possessed and the leach finally driven from his body.”
“And say nothing about the student’s involvement,” Snape suggested.
“Agreed. I’m in enough hot water as is without people finding out about children fighting my battles for me.”
“Oh, they were never alone,” offered a Moonie as she ambled up, still in pony form. “At least, not ours.”
“It’s late so we’ll bid you a good night,” Mrs Silverwood offered, she, Kitsumi with Devlin, and one amused Moonie walked out through the door.
“Professor, the stone, if it’s not in the Mirror of Erisid, where is it?” Snape was fairly sure Dumbledore had indeed placed it in the mirror with the cleverest spell he could think of that would ensure it could only be retrieved by someone who wished to protect it.
“Perhaps they were mistaken. What say we go have a look.”
“What… happened here?” Snape asked as they entered the Chess chamber.
“It would appear that someone didn’t want to take the time to play the game.” Dumbledore’s voice was soft as he slowly walked through the room. Many of the chessmen only had feet and legs remaining. Some only had feet. Stone bits and body parts were strewn everywhere and of the figures still capable of standing, every last one was on one knee if they had one, and bowing to the passersby.
The two men passed through the room with the potions and into the room with the mirror. Which was back. Yes, the mirror was back. Dumbledore walked up to the mirror and looked in to see none other than Gellert Grindelwald in his prime, laying prone with his back to Dumbledore, and nothing on. He turned to look at Albus, winked, brought up a hand that held the philosopher's stone, and began rubbing his body with it. Ever so slowly, ever so-
And then he was gone. The whole mirror was gone
“Whoa, whoa, whoa happened?! Where’s the mirror?!”
“It was an illusion.”
“I don’t care, put it back!”
“I can’t, I broke the enchantment.”
“Can’t?”
“The mirror is gone. If it was ever there.”
“But that means the stone is gone too.”
“I’m not so sure you ever had it,” Snape walked forward, reached down, and picked up the cake. “Seems the only thing in here is one of Hagrid’s cakes.”
“Hagrid?”
“More likely the Night Mare.”
“But why? And what became of the mirror?”
“If it was indeed a bloodstone, as the evidence suggests, the Night Mare might want to destroy it.”
“But taking a whole mirror?”
“Given the nature of the Night Mare and the fact that she has latched onto Aerie, she as likely swapped the stone for the cake at Gringotts. Illusions are a trait of a Night Mare.”
“Which begs the question, where is it and what became of the mirror? I think I’ll go pay Neville a visit before I turn in. Might help me sort things out. At least so far as tonight's activities.”
Dumbledore met up with McGonagall on her way down, and back up they went. Neville was so groggy by this point he agreed to give Dumbledore a copy of his memories of that evening's adventure without really understanding what was being asked of him. McGonagall woke Hermione and brought her down to the Gryffindor common room. Hermione was a bit confused as well as she’d thought Aberforth had been Dumbledore. She too relented. Dumbledore did not ask Aerie or Aurora to come down as he knew that they’d not relent so readily. From there he went to check on Ron.
Seeing the house count down a hundred and fifty points the next morning was disheartening and Slytherin was all set to jeer at them until the morning paper came in. Lucius Malfoy declares son dead. By noon the rumors were running rampant both concerning what had happened in the forest and in the school the night before. The fact that the DADA class was canceled for the remainder of the year didn’t help. Not that anyone was going to miss the DADA teacher. That afternoon Aerie was asked by Dumbledore to come up to his office. Aerie went up the spiral staircase and knocked on the door. She stepped back as the door swung open. The action of her knocking caused the door to swing in, and the sound of a music box chiming out a tune that might have been hot in the late seventeen hundreds drifted out through the open door.
“Come on in,” Dumbledore called.
Aerie pushed the door the rest of the way and entered. The room had a high ceiling with three levels of books. Around the bottom level were arranged various furnishings containing many odd and wondrous things. The desk was at the far end, next to which was a stand for a bird. Behind the desk was a door to Dumbledore’s private chambers. As for Dumbledore, he was up on the catwalk that provided access to the third level of books.
“Didn’t you have a phoenix?”
“Out playing with Mrs Silverwood’s bird I’d imagine,” he suggested as he flipped through a large tome he’d pulled from the shelf. He stopped flipping pages and read through a paragraph. “Seems I still have a lot to learn.”
“Your personal collection?”
“The Headmaster’s Collection.” He turned to face Aerie, his finger on a passage. “Right here it confirms what I was told last night. And I must confess it never occurred to me to challenge anything Nicholas Flamel told me.”
“About the stone, I gather?”
“About the stone. You knew?”
“Did I tell you about retrieving Helga Hufflepuff’s cup?”
“I do recall you mentioning it.”
“Perhaps I mentioned that it was the second darkest thing in the vaults? I sent my Moonie to fetch what I assumed would be the darkest thing there thinking it would be the cup and she brought me the stone. I knew that Quirrell would attempt to take it by brute force and that if everything played out the way I expected them to, Hagrid would be the next to hold that package. At the same time, I had it, and why take chances so I replaced it with a fake. Hagrid would never know.”
“I see. But that’s not what is in the chamber.”
“Obviously Hagrid would never know, but you would. The first illusion had no heft to it so I switched packages on him during our wild ride below the bank. Moonie wrapped a convincing illusion around the package with the cake in it. That way what he would hand you would have some heft to it, and you'd have no reason to question it. So long as you never questioned what you saw you’d believe it was real and as long as you believed, Voldemort would believe it. Everything would continue as predicted.”
“I see. At the same time, you eliminated the possibility of Voldemort getting the stone. - You, you’re not shying away from using the word.”
“Tom Riddle stopped being anything related to humans a long time ago. He’d become a creature, a leach best known by the name he fashioned for himself. That and he can’t listen in right now, or so I suspect. And even if he can, he can’t do anything.”
“True enough I’d imagine. It says here that a bloodstone is made by capturing the life essence of living beings. Human lives produce the best stones. It can then be used to create gold and the elixir of life. But it’s not a true elixir because it grants years but not vitality, nor can it grant immortality. But you already knew, didn’t you?”
“The curious thing about the stone is that the muggles know everything about it. That it was allegedly made by Nicholas Flamel, and that he produced it during a time of war in Europe. It’s also known as the Chintamani Stone in the Far East and is heavily associated with the Buddha. In Japan, such stones are known as a Hōjo-no-Tama. Legend has it that there are quite a few. These stones are also connected to virtue. No specific virtue that I could ascertain, just virtue, as in all the good virtues rolled into one.”
“And a bloodstone seems to be all the bad virtues rolled into one. Do you still have it, by chance?”
“I suppose you are going to want it back.”
“I need to talk to Nicholas, but I’m thinking the best thing to do is to destroy it now that I better understand what it is.”
“Based on what I know about bloodstones, and no, the knowledge isn’t restricted, just the how-to is, the stone might have bought Riddle more time but it wouldn't have solved his problem. About all it would have done is eliminate his need for unicorn blood. I doubt that a true stone would have helped him either. - here we go.” Aerie produced a small silver casket, like a jewelry box, from her purse. “It’s in this. It’s a silver box. The silver disrupts, and blocks the magical aura of the stone making it safe to carry and undetectable.”
“Do you mean to say you’ve had it all this time? What if someone had gotten a hold of your purse?”
“It’s enchanted. I’m the only one who can retrieve anything from it.”
“And to think that it was under his nose the whole time.”
“All part of your plan, was it not?” Aerie offered with a hopeful smile. “Think about it, Neither Quirrell nor Riddle could get near me.”
“I take the credit you mean and you go about your business like you were just an ordinary girl who got caught up in my mess.”
“There are still other Horcruxes out there.”
“There’s more than the ring then.”
“At least one more, and so long as he’s in that trap… to be honest I’m not entirely sure what will happen if a Horcrux were to possess someone. According to the predictions I’m working on, one will show up at school next year. Originally it would have been the first to be found and destroyed. The primary events that I needed to be concerned with this year have happened more or less as predicted. You would set a trap for Voldemort, and that I was in part bait. In the end, Voldemort fails. In that version, Riddle gets away, and Potter ends up in the hospital.”
“Sorry, it had to be that way. Using you as bait that is.”
“I knew right from the start though. Well, to be technical I learned what I’d be in for at the Zoo last summer. Part of why I want nothing further to do with the Dursleys. I went into this forewarned and with plenty of support and there really was no need to keep me at the Dursleys. Riddle, AKA Voldemort failed as predicted, but I wanted more than just his defeat. I put out inquiries, we devised a contingency plan, got that trap, and with a bit of luck the Dark Lord will never rise again.”
“But the prophecy?”
“Does the prophesy say anything about the Dark Lord rising again?”
“Like most prophesies it’s a bit vague, and you were supposed to be a boy.”
“I was the one marked though. The prophesy has been fulfilled and I doubt the prophesy actually cares. Are you absolutely certain it wasn’t you who wanted a boy hero? Neville was the one who pushed the button. Even so, there does seem to have been quite a large market built up around Harry Potter.”
Aerie walked over to Dumbledore’s desk while he pondered what she’d said and put the silver casket down.
“Professor, something tells me you didn’t ask me up here so I could give back the stone.”
“Well, I was trying to piece together the events from last night. It hadn’t occurred to me that you’d had the stone. I got memories from Hermione, Neville, and Ron, and I was wondering…”
“I’d rather not. My memories are my own, and for myself only, if that’s not too much of an imposition. I will tell you what I can when I can. In fact, I may have already told you too much in regard to what I expect to happen next year. I’ll trust you not to say anything regarding Horcruxes to anyone just yet less you tip off my person of interest.”
“I’ll keep that in mind. I was wondering how you managed to see through Professor Snape’s illusion?”
“Do you mean besides the fact that we blundered right into the fire when it erupted? It was kind of obvious the fire wasn’t real at that point. Actual fire, even magical fire requires fuel. An illusion can function on the ambient magic in the location it’s set up in, or provided with some meager source of magic to sustain the spell. If it was indeed real fire why even provide a way to get through it? The intruder could potentially be trapped right there. The potion bottles and the logic puzzle served only as a distraction.”
“Yes, of course, having blundered into the fire the rest of Professor Snape’s challenge fell apart. Question, can I assume the destruction of the chess board was you?”
“Professor, Kitsumi, and Hoshiko are also capable of a considerable amount of power themselves equal even to my own. They both possess that fire that protected me. The three of us used a short manna dump which caused a cascading catastrophic failure of the spell. We were in a hurry.”
“Impressive, and understandable. And going in?”
“We’d planned it out that way. Hoshiko’s talent with a fan proved useful and may well have been the most important part of the plan. We knew that Voldemort would want to escape. He’d stick with Professor Quirrell for a while but abandon him once he realized he’d nothing to gain by staying. Hoshiko gave us the time we needed to spread out and what we used was an Akkadian telekinetic spell similar to the levitation charm. Nothing fancy, just hold the line. The Night Mares jumped in to help us hold him in position.”
“Just one more thing… any idea what became of my mirror?”
“You mean Princess Celestia’s mirror.”
“Princess Celestia? My dear, she passed away centuries ago.”
“She’s Nova Silverwood’s Aunt. And very much alive. Just one of many guests to pay us a visit during the winter break. She is as close to being truly immortal as any being ever was. The Mirror is a portal. Like Professor Snape’s potions the feature that shows a person their greatest desire was nothing more than a distraction. I’m sorry Professor, but the mirror was one of my tasks and it is now in the care of a Priestess of Akkadia. You see, Prometheus was concerned that should Riddle learn the mirror's true function…”
“My failure would have been complete,” Dumbledore said softly as he slumped to his knees. The book he had in hand dropped and was caught a moment later by Aerie.
“I actually failed in my endeavor, so the Night Mare took care of it for me, and provided you with a very convincing illusion. Sorry about that but it had to be done. We couldn't take the chance that he’d gain that ability.” a moment of silence fell between the two. “Malfoy was a huge mistake on my part. I should never have just assumed he’d be alright.”
“Oh, don’t blame yourself, that blame falls squarely on Hagrid for all but running him over, treating him like a sack of potatoes, and then dumping him in that damned bush.”
“Kitsumi told me what happened. - I’m a little worried that there may have been too many variations from what was supposed to happen. Hermione should have been out there too but I covered for her to keep her safe.”
“And Neville. She told me all about it.”
“Originally it would have been Hermione and myself with Neville getting caught trying to warn us about Draco. Our Neville is a little more sensible and considerably more daring than the one in my source material. As for Hermione... One of these days I hope she learns that there is a time to tell the truth and a time to keep your mouth shut.”
“Hear, hear. So what do we tell the general public?” He looked up to see her standing right in front of him. On a cloud. She was standing on a cloud.
“Only that Professor Quirrel had been possessed by a malevolent spirit, is recovering in seclusion, and that our unique heritage made us the ideal foil to rid the school of the thing. The fire. That’s if you wish to tell them we had anything to do with it at all.”
“I had thought as much myself. Admitting that the creature had been Voldemort would not be good for the school’s reputation… how are you doing that?”
“It’s Pegasus magic. Akkadian in origin. I can interact with ghosts too.”
“Your source material?”
“Accounts from another dimension. That’s where my information comes from. In that account, you fail to tell anyone the information they need to defeat Voldemort, martyr yourself needlessly, and Potter finds all but one Horcrux. It’s Neville who destroys the last one but only after hundreds of deaths. To tell you the truth, our Neville is much more capable, and yet… if I can save him from having to witness the death of his friends I will.”
“Are we sure it’s a wise thing to change events?”
“Not the same timeline. We’ve two more Horcrux by my recollection, maybe three. Voldemort is stuck in a ghost trap and isn’t likely to be freed any time soon. The Horcrux I expect will show up next year was planned out years ahead of time and the individual who has it has plenty of motivation to be rid of it. That and I suspect those little bits of Voldemort are capable of controlling people’s actions. That peace of his soul wants to live again.”
“Meanwhile his followers in hiding might try to free the wraith in the box.”
“Those who aren’t dead or imprisoned will have to go up against one of the most formidable masters of magic in our time. The man battles demons. That’s why I asked him for his aid.”
“Is he really that good, do you think?”
“Right off hand, I’d say he’s on my level in regards to raw power and knows a whole lot more about magic than both of us combined.” She smiled at him and offered up the book he’d dropped. “Not someone to be trifled with.”
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For someone who wonders if it was wise to change things the fact is the every choice made by someone changes something. Nothing stays the same forever. And the fact is what choices would you make if you weren't depending upon the prophecy.
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There is a certain amount of game logic to deal with. Cause and effect. Something must happen for something else to happen. Right now Aerie is worried that Riddle's diary might not show up at school next year. That and she worries about telling Dumbledore too much because he might try to turn it to his advantage.
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Plus he might learn about the real Harry and that is a no go. They want him to grow up as normal as possible. Dumbledore is trying to push everything towards the prophecy just as Tom riddle did.
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Oh, but he does get suspicious. As mentioned in Sunset and the Shadowbolts, Dumbledore starts asking questions. My long-term plan is to tie the two stories together.
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But at this point they are trying to keep the cat in the bag. And maybe it will be better for Harry to grow up whenever he is. Considering his relatives hated him and Hagrid wasn't fit to be around children. Ron was jealous of the attention Harry got when the he just wanted the regular kind that everyone gets kind of attention. And the fact that they didn't seem to have much money didn't help anything in the relationship. And Hermione despite the fact she is a student and although very bright she couldn't believe that she didn't know everything about everything or that she couldn't find it out.
I get the feeling that Dumbledor will spend his last few years never knowing he was played and have a very rude revelation once he get to the other side.
wow just wow talk about a good chapter. and at the same time this sure looks like a hint for a new story and or this story getting a huge new ark.
and please do something with Filch from past story's we know about Misses Norris. i have a few ideas some bad but one vary good one, i will not say here but you can find it on your Discord PM
finally caught up again great story so far