15 Dumbledore

"Harry, my boy, that's not how you should talk to a professor," Dumbledore started, giving him his signature 'I'm deeply disappointed in you' look. Not letting anyone stop him, the old manipulator waited just enough for the act to sink in before continuing. "Where have you been all this time? Everyone's been searching for you and we've all been so anxious about your whereabouts," he finished, his eyes twinkling expectantly.

No one denied Albus Dumbledore after all.

'If I reach for Fawkes' bond and he comes, Dumbledore would no doubt notice his arrival. I have to take him to his office, where he'd feel safe and hopefully ignore the phoenix.'

"I was busy preparing for the tournament and if you don't mind, I'd rather not talk about my whereabouts in front of everyone," Harry replied evenly, gesturing to everyone in the great hall.

The whole school population, that was eagerly watching the exchange, sighed in disappointment as not even the infamous Hogwarts rumour mill could penetrate past the headmaster's office.

Dumbledore, at Harry's gesture, turned to look around and saw the many hopeful expressions.

"Very well, shall we go right now or wait until the breakfast ends?" he asked.

'He is letting me choose?' Harry wondered as he looked down at his plate.

He had lost his appetite…

"Let's go now."

With that, Harry stood up and headed towards the great hall's exit, the headmaster following closely behind him.

They didn't talk as they moved towards the seventh floor, Harry because he was trying to push both his nervousness and excitement down and Dumbledore on account of trying to think how to better manipulate the situation for his gain.

By the time the duo reached the gargoyle statue, Dumbledore was taking the lead.

"Lemonhead," he said joyfully, prompting the gargoyle to move and reveal a previously concealed staircase.

The meddling old fool didn't waste any time as he stepped into the opening.

After Harry followed the man's example, the staircase started moving up.

"I must confess Harry, your disappearing act was most displeasing," Dumbledore started.

'I suppose that the sooner I start this act, the better.'

"I'm glad," he fired, flabbergasting the older man.

"Harry?"

"Dumbledore?" he asked back, as they made their way into the office.

"Now, young man, what's with this blatant disrespect that you seem keen on showing?" he demanded, his eyes no longer twinkling.

Harry took a deep breath, knowing that he couldn't let his emotions fail him. He threw a look at where he knew Fawkes' perch was located.

'Good, everything's going according to plan and Dumbledore is none the wiser.'

"Sir you've once told me that it is our choices that show what we truly are, not our abilities. Let us talk about your choices concerning me then," Harry countered.

"Your first mistake was the order you've formed and let my parents become part of, ignoring that they had just finished Hogwarts at the time… Your second wrong against me and my family was the protection you gave us against Voldemort. You knew that we were targeted by him and simply put a Fidelius charm at our home… If only you had offered them a sanctuary at Hogwarts, I wouldn't be an orphan now. I doubt they would have denied it, not when they had a newborn child to protect from a Dark Lord. And don't get me started on the secret keeper issue… I've not talked to Sirius about it yet but when I do, I hope he'll tell me that you weren't present when the keeper was chosen."

While Harry was calmly numbering Dumbledore's slights concerning him, the man himself displayed his grandfatherly smile but was inwardly screaming.

'HOW DOES HE KNOW SO MUCH? DOES HE ALSO KNOW ABOUT THE PROPHECY?'

"How do you know about the prophecy?" he let slip.

'What? There's a fucking prophecy about me?' he wondered incredulously.

He really wanted to forego the plan and scream at the man.

Deep breath.

'Angry people are not always wise,' Salazar had taught him.

By the time he opened his eyes, he had managed to numb down most of his anger.

While that was definitely not a pleasant development, something else was.

'He's slipping. That took way less time than I thought it'd take.'

Unbeknownst to Harry, his disappearing act had caused myriads of problems to the aged headmaster. Not only had he discarded some of his meticulously formed plans, but he was also under constant pressure by both the British and foreign ministries to answer about Harry's whereabouts. And that was on top of his headmaster, supreme mugwump and chief warlock responsibilities.

The sudden drop of comfort given by Fawkes throughout his days that he enjoyed for many years didn't help his mental health. Thankfully, it had gone unnoticed…

Dumbledore almost instantly realised his mistake as he saw Harry's face momentarily form a smirk.

"I've not finished yet headmaster. After my parents' tragic death, as I'm sure you'd agree, you sent me to the Dursleys. That, together with your blatant theft of my vault's contents, was your worst act against me," he said, not bothering to hide his disdain for the man.

"You are overreacting my boy. Your family loves you deeply, you are just being difficult. I'm sure that if you put enough effort the next summer, you'll also see that," he answered while trying to get control of his deteriorated mental state; he shouldn't have skipped sleep last night. He didn't even bother to deny Harry's claim of theft; the goblins were known to be meticulous in writing down any transactions that happened.

'Bloody goblins… Why did Gornuk remember to send Harry a letter now?' the wizened headmaster thought bitterly.

'I think he's truly senile… I'm not sure if I prefer him believing that or trying to underplay the "deep love" that they have for me. At least the bastard realises he can't conceal his theft.'

"I'm in fact, downplaying the situation if anything. They abused me Dumbledore, for years, and you've done nothing about it. I've done some light reading on obscurials and I must say, I'm not surprised that you were involved in the Obscurial attack on New York City, since I'm amazed that I myself didn't share the same fate as Credence Barebone."

"Now, now my boy. Obscurials aren't as easy to form as you make them sound. I've also done some checks on you through the years and I've not noticed anything you mentioned."

"I hope that was a lie Dumbledore," he said as he took off his robe.

Harry didn't want to proceed with that plan, but the insane stubbornness of the old man had proved too much.

'How can he think that he knows better about my living conditions than me?'

Harry, ignoring DUMBledore's demands to tell him what was going on, took off his shirt as well.

'It's colder than I expected,' he thought absentmindedly, suppressing a shiver.

Suddenly, the feeling disappeared as it was replaced by a familiar warmth.

'Thanks, Fawkes,' he thought through his blooming bond with the fiery avian behind him.

Sighing, he focused back on the man.

"Tell me how I got all these scars then Dumbledore," he demanded.

To say that Harry's upper body was filled with scars, would not be an overstatement.

"This one, headmaster, was Vernon's present for my sixth birthday. That day, I learned exactly how much sugar my uncle wanted in his coffee and how hard a belt hit," Harry spewed, touching a scar that covered his whole chest area.

"See this burn mark over here? I got that in my first lesson on cooking with Petunia. She wasn't pleased with my incompetence you see... I was five years old."

"Wanna see my favourite?" he asked while turning his back to Dumbledore.

Only someone as dense as Ron could have missed the sarcasm in Harry's voice.

"I've got Dudley and his friends to thank for it. I'll spare you the details."

Covering most of Harry's back, was a once deep, healed gash.

"That's enough. Please put on your clothes," the headmaster said with a pained expression.

'I wonder, is he faking it?'

"Enough? What the hell are you talking about Dumbledore? We are just getting started here, there are countless more scars I can tell you about after all. How about this one, hm? I got it by fixing the school's basilisk problem for you. Tell me, do you think it's fair to let an innocent child be mobbed and blamed by an entire school population and then expect them to go and slay a 15-meter monster with a sword?" Harry asked, pointing his arm.

Dumbledore, realising that he couldn't go for his usual strategy and say that Harry was throwing a childish tantrum, chose to change the topic.

'I already let it slip by. Hopefully, it'll take his mind off the scars and give me enough time to come up with an unquestionable story…'

"You don't understand Harry, everything I did was for the greater good… The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches... Born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies... and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not... and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives... The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies… That's what your divination professor predicted a few months before your birth. There was another boy who met the prophecy's criteria, but as I'm sure you have noticed, Voldemort chose to mark you as his equal, thus making you the unquestionable child of the prophecy."

'Fuck, my magic is going to explode,' Harry realised as he did his best to control himself.

"And who's fucking greater good is that?"

"Everyone's, even Voldemort's," the old man answered sagely, caressing his ashen beard.

"What about me though?"

"Ah, Harry. The joy of being young and foolish… Don't worry, your sacrifice will be remembered and you'll die for a great cause."

"Fuck-you."

Luckily for Harry, Dumbledore's speech had more consequences than angering him.

'Alright, youngling. I'll form a bond with you,' Harry heard someone say as he felt himself explode with warmth.

He smiled as he felt the new bond form.

"You know, now that I think about it again, perhaps you did want me to become an obscurial… What would be better against Voldemort, a meek and underdeveloped boy or 'an unstable, uncontrollable dark force that busts out and attacks, and then vanishes'?" he said, uncaring about the growing restlessness of his magic, making Dumbledore pale.

'Wow. He did want that…'

"I'm the one that's got to die when it's time for me to die, so let me live my life the way I want to. Dumbledore," Harry said with contempt.

Dumbledore reached for his wand, widening Harry's eyes.

Nevertheless, thanks to Salazar's urgings and his past experiences with a slow wand draw, he managed to mimic the older man, albeit a tad slower.

"I'm afraid I can't let you do that, my boy. I'm truly sorry," he said, both pointing their wands at the other.

"If that's how you feel, then why the fuck are you smiling, you senile old bastard," he shouted just as the headmaster started moving his wand.

Harry saw the jet of fiery red light flying over him and dodged.

"Oh?" Dumbledore exclaimed; he didn't expect Harry to offer resistance.

"Expeliarmus. Incarcerous," Harry shouted in quick succession.

'Fighting back as well,' he observed surprised.

Dumbledore simply batted his spells aside with a smile before twirling his wand and firing three more spells at him.

"Protego," Harry cast before returning spell fire.

After exchanging a few more spells, Dumbledore seemed extremely pleased.

"Whatever you were doing during your absence has done wonders for your my boy, though I'm afraid I must end this," he said, smiling sadly.

Dumbledore transfigured the furniture near Harry to different kinds of big mammals, that proceeded to jump on him.

'There's no way I could win Dumbledore in a battle of skills at transfiguration,' he mused, not bothering to try and get control of the magicked animals.

"Finite incantatem!" he shouted.

The headmaster smirked as nothing happened.

'More power then,' Harry thought.

"Finite magicae," he hissed, casting the spell's parseltongue variation.

Dumbledore's eyes widened as his hounds became furniture again and Harry used parseltongue for spell casting.

Harry, grasping the shock of the older man, re-centred his wand.

"SSecare. Igniss. Venenum," Harry cast rapidly.

The spells, while not dark, would cause Dumbledore some damage if hit.

Harry's comeback broke the man off his surprise as his muscle memory kicked in.

With a wave of his hand, a golden shield materialised around him, meeting Harry's first spell head-on.

"Such power," Dumbledore muttered in awe, as the shield cracked.

He barely had any time to cast another shield, this time with his wand, as fire met with defence.

With a wave of Dumbledore's wand, the fire and his shield disappeared.

'The fool. Did he not see my last spell? Can he not sense it or is he underestimating me so much?' Harry wondered right as Dumbledore's face got green.

Venenum was a parseltongue spell that applied a venomous poison in the air.

For anyone else, using a poison spell in a fight would have been stupid, as it didn't discriminate between the caster and the target. Harry, thanks to both having a bond with a snake and being the host of a basilisk's venom, was an exception to that rule.

'Perhaps, that's why Dumbledore didn't do anything about it. He thinks that I wouldn't cast anything that would harm me as well.'

Speaking of the older man, he sported an enraged expression as he furiously swished his wand around.

Harry tried to keep up with the headmaster, going as far as throwing some of his darker curses, however, his skill and power quickly fell short in front of the giant in front of him.

'That's how going against someone that has decades of experience on you ends, I suppose. Maybe if I started by throwing my strongest curses, it would have ended differently,' he mused as he fell; a full body-bind curse hit him.

If Harry started by casting his strongest spells, the headmaster would have gotten a feel for his skill and overestimated right from the bat. In addition, casting destructive spells in an enclosed space wasn't the smartest thing to do. Lastly, just because a spell was strong didn't mean it would win a duel.

"Oblivi-" was all Dumbledore managed to say before Harry disappeared with a flash of fire.

Suddenly, the old man fell to the floor with a pained gasp.

'Have I failed to purify the poison? No wait-'

"Fawkes?" he mumbled as he felt something he hadn't even considered to experience in his life.

The bond with his phoenix was burning, and not before long, it would disappear.

§ - § - § - § - § - § - § - § - § - § - § - §

Double chapter. You are welcome.

Well, how was it? Excellent? Amazing? Terrific?

We finally got some action! I promise that there's a lot more from where that came from.

I swear I didn't forget about Sirius, I was just having trouble introducing him to the story and deciding how to write him. Should I make him a dumb-as-door fan, or the supporting godfather that he is supposed to be? Salazar is probably going bye-bye in the next chapter.

Moving on, allow me to speak in dunderhead terms so you can understand why you should join the Discord server.

If you join, you'll have immediate contact with me (now who doesn't want that?).

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