McDumbledore, the Napoleon of the Wizarding World
They arrived in the DADA classroom before the Professor and Ron was still trying to figure out what Hermione was hiding, though he kept his voice low so she wouldn’t hear him. He had spent most of lunch when he wasn’t stuffing his face trying to get her to tell him.
Daniel was fairly certain he knew and had told Harry what he thought it was. The other books that had fallen out of her bag had been for those classes she didn’t have with Harry and Ron which meant that since they were at the same time as Potions, she had some kind of device that allowed her to make controlled trips back in time, but the device apparently didn’t return her to her departure point. If the girl wasn’t careful, she was going to give herself away.
They had book, quills and parchment out, when Professor Lupin finally made an appearance. “Good afternoon. You can put you things away, except for your wands. Today’s lesson is going to be a practical one.”
Harry and Ron eyed him curiously, hoping this practical lesson would be better that Lockhart’s one with the Cornish Pixies.
When everyone had put their books away, Lupin told them, “If you would please follow me.”
This was definitely different. They’d never left the DADA classroom for a lesson before. They followed him silently down the empty corridor. When they turned the corner, they saw Peeves who appeared to be stuffing chewing gum into the keyhole of the broom closet.
“I’d take that gum out of the keyhole if I were you, Peeves.” Lupin advised the poltergeist. “Mr. Filch won’t be too happy with you if he can’t get to his brooms.”
“Loony, loopy, Lupin.” Peeves sang out several times while hanging upside down before blowing a loud wet raspberry.
Everyone was surprised by how Peeves was treating the DADA teacher. He usually showed some respect to the teaching staff. They waited to see how Professor Lupin would handle this show of disrespect from the ghost.
He just gave a small sigh and took out his wand. “This is a very useful little spell, as you will see. Please watch carefully.”
Raising the wand to shoulder height, he said “Wassiwasi!” before pointing the wand at Peeves.
The wad of chewing gum shot out of the keyhole with the force of a bullet and went straight down Peeves’ left nostril. The poltergeist shot upright and zoomed away, cursing up a storm.
“That was cool sir.” Dean Thomas said slightly awed. He’d never even seen McGonagall get the better of Peeves.
“Thank you, Dean,” Lupin gave a slight bow of his head in acknowledgement as he put his wand away. “Shall we proceed?”
They followed Lupin down the corridor feeling slightly more hopeful about this year’s DADA teacher. He seemed to know what he was doing.
The parade came to a stop just outside the staff room door. Opening it, Lupin gestured for them to go inside.
The third years did as instructed coming quickly to a halt when they saw Snape glaring at them from where he was seated in one of the mismatched armchairs scattered about the panelled room.
“Leave it open, Lupin,” Snape ordered rising from his seat and heading for the door. “I’d rather not witness this spectacle.”
Before he slammed the door shut, Snape issued a warning. “I don’t know if anyone has told you, Lupin, but this class contains Neville Longbottom, a hopeless case if ever there was one. I wouldn’t trust him with anything important unless Miss Granger is standing beside him whispering instructions in his ear.”
Harry/Daniel could see Neville go red in the face from that public humiliation. Both of them glared at the Potions professor, wondering why he felt compelled to bully Neville outside his own classroom. Did he get some kind of perverted thrill out of it?
Lupin merely raised an eyebrow and told him, “I am hoping that Neville will help me with the first part of this lesson. And I have no doubt that he will be able to carry off his part of the lesson without any problems.”
Neville went even redder in the face if that was possible and Harry couldn’t help wondering is Lupin might not be overestimating Neville’s capabilities. His fellow Gryffindor rarely did well in any class other than Herbology.
Snape gave a snort of disgust and slammed the door shut.
Lupin led the class to the end of the long panelled room that held the old wardrobe where the teacher’s stored their spare robes.
Several students gasped as it began to wobble and bang against the wall as soon as Lupin got near it.
“Don’t worry,” Professor Lupin spoke in a calm and reassuring tone of voice. “That’s just the boggart we are here to study. I asked the headmaster not to get rid of it, because I wanted my third year class to get some practice dealing with one.”
A number of the third year students were not reassured at all at the notion that Professor Lupin thought they could handle a Boggart. Neville had gone ash white and Seamus was eyeing the door handle worriedly.
As if unaware of their concerns, Professor Lupin explained about the Boggart’s tendency to like dark enclosed spaces, then he asked his first question of the class. “So the first thing we must ask ourselves is what is a Boggart?”
When Lupin gestured to her, Hermione told the class, “It’s a formless shapeshifter. It takes the form of whatever the person that sees it is most afraid of.”
/Maybe that’s why Snape left instead of waiting to see if Neville would fail./ Daniel commented to Harry. /He doesn’t want any of the Gryffindors to know what he is afraid of./
/Makes sense./ Harry agreed. /Snape enjoys creating terror in others, but he doesn’t want anyone to know what he’s afraid of. I wonder what the Boggart would’ve become for him./
/I think a question of far more immediate concern is what will it turn into for us. We are going to be facing it in a moment./ Daniel pointed out. /It could give us away if it turns into two separate things./
That shocked Harry into silence and he returned his attention to Professor Lupin who was finishing up, “…he will immediately become what we each fear the most.”
Ignoring the small whimper that escaped Neville, Lupin continued. “This gives us an advantage right off. Can you tell me what it is,… Harry?”
Harry was surprised when the question was directed at him. He hadn’t even had his hand up. Hermione looked slightly disappointed that he had been chosen to answer the question, but she continued to bob in place with her hand up in case he got it wrong. Not certain of the answer, Harry guessed, “Could it be that because there are so many of us, the Boggart won’t know what it should become?”
“Exactly!” Lupin sounded pleased.
As Professor Lupin went on to explain how it was best to have company when dealing with a boggart and why, Daniel’s mind was working quickly on the problem of how to keep the boggart from revealing that there were two people in Harry’s body. Hedwig had only detected him when he spoke to Harry or changed places with him. Buckbeak had detected his presence even when he had been doing nothing. Neither of them could betray his presence the way a boggart could though.
Daniel had a reputation for being able to think fast on his feet, but this one almost beat him until he remembered the magical energy signatures he could feel from the people and things around them. It was a long shot and might not work, but it was the only thing he could think of.
/Harry, I think I’ve got an idea how to hide myself so the boggart won’t detect me./ Daniel spoke quickly.
/What?/ Harry wanted to know. The last thing they needed to happen was for Daniel to magically exhaust him again. Madame Pomfrey would never let them out of the Hospital wing again if that happened.
/I’m gonna try to match my energy signature to yours, so hopefully we appear as a very powerful single entity./ Daniel told him.
/Ok,/ Harry mentally crossed his fingers for luck.
Closing his eyes, Daniel turned his will and ascended powers toward quickly matching his energy pattern to that of Harry. A moment later he checked, not a perfect match but it just might be enough. Making himself comfortable, Daniel did his best to maintain the matching patterns as he watched the class unfold through Harry’s eyes.
Daniel watched as Lupin handled the very frightened Neville. He had seen enough teachers in his lifetime to be able to tell a good one from a bad one. Lupin was very patient as he explained to Neville what he wanted him to try and do. When Daniel compared him to the other DADA teachers he had seen in Harry’s memories, he could tell that Lupin was in a class by himself and this was probably going to be a year where Harry and his classmates learned a great deal about how to defend themselves against what was out there.
Lupin turned back to the class before opening the wardrobe. “If Neville is successful in driving the Boggart back, it will most likely turn its attention to each of you in turn. I want you each to take a few moments and figure out what you can do to make thing that terrifies you most look comical.”
The image that popped into Daniel’s mind at those words was Jack with the glowing eyes of a Goa’uld. He looked at what had appeared in Harry’s thoughts. It was an image of Tom Riddle otherwise known as Voldemort, but a moment later it was replaced by the image of a Sa’ki’eth otherwise known here as a Dementor.
A moment later, Daniel’s attention was distracted from Harry’s attempt to try and make it comical by Lupin opening the wardrobe door. Snape stormed out of the wardrobe toward Neville, finger outstretched and shaking at the other boy. If took Neville several tries to get the spell out, but as soon as he did, Snape’s wardrobe was changed into a Victorian style lace dress and a vulture topped hat. Daniel was hard pressed not to laugh. He knew if he did, he might disrupt the careful energy matching he had done with Harry.
Daniel watched as Lupin called the students forward one at a time and concentrated on making sure his energy signature continued to match Harry’s
When the legless spider came to a halt near Harry’s feet and he prepared to make his attempt against the Boggart, even though he still hadn’t figured out a way to make one appear harmless, they were both surprised when the Defence Professor stepped in. The boggart changed to a silvery orb that reminded Daniel a lot of the moon.
/Why did he do that?/ Harry thought at Daniel as Lupin had Neville finish off the Boggart cockroach, he had changed it into.
/I have no idea,/ Daniel admitted.
When Lupin awarded five points to Harry, he protested, “But I didn’t face the Boggart, sir.”
“No, you didn’t,” Lupin agreed, “but you did answer a question about it.”
#####
Friday’s Divination class proceeded about like Harry/Daniel expected. Trelawney was practically floating on air as she continually commented about how she had foreseen the accident, but that the aura of Grim was still hanging over Harry so he was still under the pall of death. Harry just made a mental note to speak to Professor McGonagall about transferring to Ancient Runes before lunch.
Ron was a bit upset, when Harry told him that he would be taking Ancient Runes instead of Divination even though Harry had mentioned it previously when he was in the Hospital wing. Harry finally got Ron calmed down enough to understand why Harry wasn’t comfortable hanging around a teacher who seemed to take great delight in predicting his death every time she saw him. Ron even admitted he wouldn’t have been real happy about someone predicting his death every moment they were in his presence either.
The Care of Magical Creatures class, on Friday, while not as exciting as the first one was nevertheless very interesting as Hagrid taught them about Phoenixes. And even though Fawkes was the only Phoenix on display, the entire class was surprised to learn that there was more than one type of phoenix and that each was linked to a specific element of nature. On the whole, other than Malfoy, the students had seemed pleased with the class, because the Gryffindors were walking away chatting about what they’d learned with their house mates and a large number of the Slytherins were walking away without looking like they’d just experienced something disgusting.
Harry/Daniel’s first Ancient Runes class proved to be very interesting as well. Daniel knew a bit about Runes, primarily the Norse ones linked to the Asguard, but this was the first time, he’d seen them used for their other purpose of spell casting. Professor Conroy Torrin had a real passion for his subject. He told them that while runes were primarily used by Cursebreakers and enchanters, knowing a rune’s meanings and how it was used in combination with others would help you figure out what spells were on the old magical items your family had and what they were intended to do.
########
/And I thought Professor Cumberland at the Oriental Institute was a boring speaker./ Daniel commented during their History of Magic class. /Compared to this guy, he’s actually hyperactive. Does Binns ever talk about anything but Goblin Rebellions?/
/Not that I’ve ever heard./ Harry told him. /The only time he ever discussed another topic was when Hermione brought up the Chamber of Secrets./
The bell rang signalling the end of class and most of the students started waking from their naps.
/Want to shake him up just a bit?/ Daniel asked.
/How?/ Harry wanted to know.
/Let me have control for a bit./ Daniel requested.
Curious, Harry traded places with Daniel.
“Professor Binns,” Daniel/Harry raised his voice over the noise of the students getting to their feet.
“Yes, Mr. Potter,” the droning voice of the ghost responded.
“I just wanted to know sir, do you ever teach about anything besides the Goblin Rebellions?”
Everyone stopped moving in surprise.
“I mean sir,” Daniel/Harry continued, “You assigned us an essay on medieval witch burnings for our summer homework, but you haven’t discussed it, nor have you returned the graded homework and that was turned in more than a month ago. Surely there is more to the history of the wizarding world than a never-ending stream of goblin rebellions. I mean why don’t you teach about Merlin who is supposed to be the Father of the British magical world. Or teach about the separation of magickind from the non-magical? Surely that is information we need to know.”
The ghostly Binns just stared at him, not saying anything.
When the silence from the ghostly teacher went on for more than a few minutes, Daniel/Harry continued, “Shouldn’t those of us who grew up outside the wizarding world be able to learn it’s rich history? I mean aren’t we entitled to know about the major and minor events of the wizarding world or is it some great dark secret because you feel we really don’t belong here?”
When Binns remained silent just staring at the boy with his mouth open, Daniel/Harry put in his final jab. “I see, sir, all you want us to know about is the dislike, if not active hatred other races have for us.”
That said he walked out of class leaving his friends scrambling to catch up with him as he headed for the Great Hall for lunch.
“I can’t believe you said that!” Hermione chastised Harry once she caught up with him at the Great Hall.
“What’s your problem?” Harry was perfectly willing to leave Daniel in control. He knew that the Archaeologist could out argue Hermione on his worst day. “I felt it was a perfectly valid question. The only thing that Binns has ever taught us about except for the one time you asked about the Chamber of Secrets is Goblin Rebellions. He is supposed to be a History teacher, which means teaching history.”
“He was teaching History.” Hermione argued as she put food on her plate. “He was teaching about the Goblin Rebellions which are a part of history.”
“Hermione,” Daniel/Harry’s use of her full name, instead of the nickname he and Ron had for her, got her attention. “The class is called History of Magic correct?”
“Yes,” Hermione shot back, “And that’s what Binns was teaching us… History.”
Ron watched their argument between Harry and Hermione with the intensity he would’ve given to a Quidditch match as he shovelled food into his mouth. He had been surprised though when Harry had spoken out in class. He doubted it would do any good. Binns, according to what he’d been told by his father, had been teaching the same dull material about the Goblin Rebellions even when he was alive.
“He’s only teaching one aspect of history,” Daniel/Harry pointed out. “That would be just fine if he were teaching in college and was only required to teach that aspect of History like at a muggle college where they can teach things like Medieval or Ancient Egyptian History, but he is supposed to be teaching us the general history of the wizarding world, which means all of it, not just how to perpetuate the hatred wizards feel toward the goblins and theirs toward us. I for one refuse to believe that the history of the wizarding world is one long unending stream of goblin rebellions.”
The expression on Hermione’s face was one of disapproval even though she couldn’t find fault with Harry’s argument. “You shouldn’t have said what you did to Professor Binns. It was disrespectful toward the teacher. He is teaching the required curriculum.”
“Required by whom?” Daniel/Harry wanted to know. “Hogwarts? The Ministry? I don’t think so or we wouldn’t have been assigned a paper on medieval witch burnings over the summer. We instead would’ve been required to do an essay on the Goblin Rebellions.”
Hermione just sniffed, refusing to respond any further since she couldn’t get Harry to see that he was wrong about what he’d done. Instead she turned her attention to her lunch and started reading her Arithmancy book.
#######
As the bell rang signalling the end of Transfiguration class, McGonagall got their attention before they could leave the classroom. “Gryffindors, I need you to make sure I have your permission slips before Halloween, if you intend to go to this first Hogsmeade weekend. If I don’t have your permission form, you won’t be able to go, so don’t forget.”
When Neville raised his hand, she told him, “Your grandmother already sent me yours Neville.”
Neville sighed in relief and followed Ron, Harry, and Hermione out of class.
“Should we give McGonagall our forms tonight, Harry?” Ron wanted to know.
“Yea. We should take care of it as soon as possible. I’m just glad I got uncle Vernon to sign it before Marge showed up. I doubt he would’ve signed it afterwards.” Harry/Daniel observed.
“Harry, you can’t possibly be thinking of going.” Hermione stared at him in shock. “Why would you do something so foolish? You’re supposed to stay in school.” She looked around then whispered, “Mr. Weasley told you that Sirius Black is after you. Why would you want to do something so silly and go somewhere he can easily get his hands on you? You can always go to Hogsmeade once they’ve caught him.”
“Hermione,” Ron disagreed, “Harry can’t be the only third year not going. It would just be wrong for him to miss out on Hogsmeade.”
“Mr. Weasley told Harry that has to stay in school where he’s safe.” Hermione hissed surprised that Ron wasn’t agreeing with her. Ron knew that Black was after Harry. His own father had been certain enough of it to warn Harry not to leave the school grounds.
“Just ignore her, Harry. She just doesn’t want you to have any fun.” Ron countered harshly. “Sirius Black isn’t going to risk capture to try and kidnap Harry from among the hordes of students who will be there on Hogsmeade weekend. I’m sure the Minister will have extra Aurors posted just in case he is stupid enough to try.”
“I am going.” Harry/Daniel confirmed.
Hermione huffed. “I’m sure that Professor McGonagall will be able to talk some sense into you. It’s not safe for you to go Harry. Why are you putting yourself at risk?”
At Daniel’s prompting, Harry told her, “You know your argument might carry more weight if you weren’t going Hermione. Based on the paper, Black is bound to know that you are one of my friends. Even if I weren’t to go, what’s to stop him from kidnapping you and forcing me to exchange myself for you? For that matter what’s to stop Black kidnapping anyone else in this school for the same reason? If Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall were really worried about Black, then they would have cancelled all Hogsmeade weekends because of the danger that Black poses. They didn’t so I’m not going to deny myself a trip to Hogsmeade.”
Harry walked off before Hermione had a chance to try and continue the argument.
########
After handing in his permission slip for Hogsmeade to his teacher, Harry headed toward the old classroom, that Fred and George had recommended for potions work, to check on the genealogy potion he and Daniel were brewing. Given their ability to plan and carry out pranks without being caught, Harry and Daniel both had figured they knew a few places safe to do some work that you didn’t want anyone else to see and they’d been right. The room was thick with enough dust to make Daniel glad he no longer had his allergies, but it was in an out of the way corridor, so no one bothered him here, not even Hermione. The fact that it was relatively close to the Owlery, relative being a subjective term, made it the best possible choice since it meant he could get Hedwig on the way.
/I wonder why she looked so upset by the fact I had a signed permission slip?/ Harry wondered, still trying to figure out why McGonagall had looked like she wanted to object to his turning in a permission slip.
/Maybe she wasn’t expecting you to have one, though why that would be I don’t know./ Daniel commented. /Unless they somehow have been in contact with the Dursleys and know that it wasn’t signed, though why they would have bothered to ask that I don’t know./
Harry mentally shrugged as he settled Hedwig on a nearby perch and walked over to the cauldron containing the potion. He had put a protective cover over it since nothing was supposed to get into it, not even sunlight while it was steeping. Dim lighting like torchlight or a lumos spell was ok, just not sunlight /It may be that they think Black is going to make a try for me and since they think I don’t know about him, they don’t want to risk telling me./
/That’s most likely the case. I’m fairly certain that she is going to run and tell Dumbledore to see if he can talk you out of going since she has no authority to bar you because you have a signed permission slip… just not signed by any of the Dursleys./ Daniel sounded positively pleased with himself over his bit of forgery.
They needed to be able to move around freely outside the school without questions being asked to get their goals accomplished before the end of the year and Hogsmeade was their best chance for that. The only problem Daniel and Harry could foresee was that Ron and Hermione might try to stick to them like burrs, but getting separated in the crowds of students that were bound to be there would take care of that since they weren’t gong to be gone more than a few hours.
Removing the cover, Harry said, “lumos.”
The contents of the cauldron were revealed to be a beautiful sky blue, exactly what the book said they should be.
“It’s ready.” Harry slipped the ring on his right hand so Daniel could appear.
Pulling a roll of parchment out of the nearby bag, Harry slid it into the potion. They both watched as the sky blue potion was absorbed into the parchment. Once the potion was gone, the parchment glowed blue for a few moments. Once the glow vanished the parchment looked no different than any of the other rolls that Harry kept for homework.
Pulling it out, Harry rolled the paper flat and Daniel weighted it down. Taking out a stick pin, Harry pricked his finger and allowed three drops of blood to fall in the form of a triangle on the page and with each drop he repeated, “Ostendo prosapia nemus materia versus iens tergum triginta genit.”
The drops of blood sank into the parchment and then the paper was covered in a deep green pulsing light that Daniel though matched the colour of Harry’s eyes and from the picture he’d seen it matched his mother’s too. It was several minutes before the light vanished and names began to appear rapidly on the paper… lots of names.
“I hope the parchment is big enough,” Daniel commented.
“We only told it to go back 30 generations figuring that would get us to at least somewhere in the 1300’s, so we should be ok.”
They waited several more minutes before studying the parchment to find the best places to make the changes they needed to put Daniel in the Evans family tree. The chart appeared to have colour coded itself. Both Harry and his mother were in dark green, which since both Harry and his mother were magic users, must mean those were witches and wizards. Given that there were other names marked with the same dark green colouring, it indicated that Lily Evans wasn’t the first magic user in the Evans family, just the first one in a very long time. At least two or three hundred years by Daniel’s estimation, using the standard calculation of twenty-five years to a generation. Petunia was showing in yellow as was Dudley and so was a majority of the Evans family tree. Vernon Dursley was shown in black married to Petunia. There were fewer of those, mostly from the last approximately one to two hundred years, but Daniel assumed that indicated the presence of someone with no magical ability, not even the potential to pass it on to his heir.
“The colour coding should make it easier for us to figure out where to make the changes we need to make.” Daniel commented as he traced his finger up the chart from Harry and his mother looking for a point where there was more than one child and at least one of those children was a green rather than yellow. “It will also make Petunia easier to handle, given that she, Dudley, and your grandparents appear to be Squibs. Given her aversion to anything to do with magic, we can make her terrified of Dudley getting married.”
While girls still were not that interesting to Harry yet, and he did understand from Daniels memories that one day he would probably do stupid things to try and their attention, he still shuddered at the thought of Dudley marrying and producing a child. Harry couldn’t resist commenting dryly. “I’m sure that millions of young women in the world will worship at the altar of Daniel if you manage to convince my Aunt that she should get Dudley fixed in order to avoid producing a magical grandchild.”
Daniel chuckled. “Given his size at least from your memories, I doubt any girl would be willing to have sex with him out of fear of being crushed to death.”
There Daniel’s tracing finger finally found the point where the division between those with magic and those without began. Prior to the mid sixteen hundreds the dark green was more prevalent and after that there was more yellow and black.
Resting his glowing fingertip on one of the yellow names on the parchment that wasn’t a direct ancestor to Harry Daniel changed it to green, making sure to keep the energy signature matching Harry’s so the change wouldn’t be detected. He moved slowly own the parchment changing each name’s colour and when he reached the last few even changing the names so that they matched his families genealogy and ending with him.
“Are you sure no spell will reveal the alterations?” Harry wanted reassurance because if this step failed, Dumbledore might intervene and he wouldn’t be able to get his custody changed or his freedom from the Dursleys.
“As far as I know the changes shouldn’t be detected.” Daniel told him. “The spells we read about that check the authenticity of charts all check the blood and energy signature. Our powers are joined so nothing should turn up odd regarding the energy signature, not even if Dumbledore were to check the chart, but we aren’t going to let him do so.”
Harry checked his watch. “We need to get back before Ron and Hermione come looking for us.”
#########
At breakfast on Saturday morning, Professor McGonagall stopped to speak with Harry. “Mr. Potter, the Headmaster would like to see you after breakfast. The password is Hershey’s”
As she walked off, Ron commented, “wonder why Dumbledore wants to see you today.”
Harry shrugged, “I don’t know. I’ll find out when I talk to him.”
/I bet I know why./ Daniel commented. /he wants to try and talk us out of going to Hogsmeade. Or he maybe planning to cast some kind of spell on us to make us not want to go./
Hermione glared at Harry darkly. “I bet I know why. You gave your permission slip to Professor McGonagall didn’t you.”
“So what if I did,” Harry didn’t deny it. “I have a right to go into Hogsmeade just like every other third year.”
Hermione tried to make him see reason. “Harry, every other third year doesn’t have a madman after them trying to kill them. You can’t have forgotten about Sirius Black.”
“How can you be so sure about that?” Harry countered.
Hermione stared at him baffled. “What are you talking about?”
“How can you be so sure that Black won’t go after one of the other students?” Harry inquired calmly. “If Black really is after me, what makes you think Black wouldn’t try taking one of the other students?”
“Why would he do that?” Hermione couldn’t believe what she was hearing. This was the flimsiest argument she had ever heard.
“It’s called kidnapping, Hermione? It happens all the time in the muggle world.” Harry reminded her. “It is entirely possible that Black would take someone to try and force the Headmaster or the Ministry to hand me over in exchange.”
“They wouldn’t do that!” Hermione protested. “They wouldn’t give in to his demands!”
“You can’t be sure of that, now can you?” Harry countered. “If they were really worried about Black being a threat, then they would bar all students from going to Hogsmeade.”
Harry got up and left the Gryffindor table before Hermione could come up with a response.
########
As they stepped onto the revolving staircase that led to Dumbledore’s office, Harry asked, /Daniel would you mind handling this meeting with Dumbledore?/
/Are you sure you want me to?/
/Yeah,/ Harry told him. /I’m still so mad at the meddling old fool, I might say something by accident that I shouldn’t. He’s good at getting things out of you that you want to keep secret with that kind grandfatherly act of his. Since you don’t have any history with him and are older than I you should be able to stay in control easier and not give us away./
As they mentally changed places, Daniel commented, /Dumbledore might be many things, but a fool isn’t one of them. He reminds me more of the character Moriarity in Sherlock Holmes, but he somehow he has Holmes’ honourable reputation to hide his manipulative nature behind. We are both going to need to be very careful around him./
The door to the headmaster’s office was open when Daniel reached the top of the stairs. He knocked on the doorjamb just to be polite, even though he was fairly sure the older wizard knew he was there.
When the Headmaster looked up, Daniel/Harry spoke in the slightly uncertain voice of someone who didn’t know if they were in trouble or not. “Professor McGonagall said you wanted to see me sir.”
“Yes, Harry. Come in and have a seat.” Dumbledore gestured toward one of the overstuffed chairs in front of his desk.
As they entered the office, Harry felt his stomach drop, /Uh oh…/
/What’s wrong?/ Daniel looked around for a potential threat, but saw no one else in the office except…. Fawkes!
When Hagrid had had the class on Phoenixes, Harry had made sure to stay in the middle of the group and avoid attracting Fawkes’ attention. Daniel had remained silent and still within Harry throughout the entire class to prevent Fawkes from detecting his presence since he was Dumbledore’s loyal familiar and they didn’t want him telling the Headmaster about them.
They had forgotten that Fawkes spent most of his time in the Headmaster’s office.
Daniel mentally shrugged, /There’s nothing we can do about it now./
Harry knew he was right, but he still mentally crossed his fingers and said a silent prayer to anyone who might be listening that Fawkes wouldn’t give their secret away.
As soon as Daniel was seated, Fawkes launched himself from his perch with a spirit lifting trill and landed in Daniel’s lap
“Fawkes seems pleased to see you.” Dumbledore observed.
§Greetings White Lord.§ Fawkes sang. §Why are you here in the semblance of the youngling Harry Potter? Have you hidden him form those who would harm or use him.§
Before Daniel or Harry could even come up with a response, Fawkes reared back slightly and gave a trill of amazement. §You are joined! How is this possible?!§
/There really isn’t time to discuss it now,/ Daniel hoped that the phoenix would be able to hear his thoughts.
§You are right Lord,§ the phoenix sang.§I will come to the youngling Potter’s bed in Gryffindor tower tonight after the others are asleep and we can discuss it.§
Harry thought Quickly at Fawkes. /Please don’t tell the Headmaster about this!/
§Don’t worry youngling, my beak is sealed.§ Fawkes gave a trill that sounded like laughter. §I made it very clear to my bonded after what he did to you that night in the muggle hospital that he is travelling a dangerous road and that if his previous actions toward you are repeated, he will lose me. No matter what reasons he had for doing so.§
Fawkes sent his bonded a reminder of that warning along their bond before settling down in Harry’s lap. He gave the nearest hand a nudge, indicating he wanted to be petted.
Unaware of the conversation that had just taken place in front of him, Dumbledore was quick to conceal his surprise at Fawkes’ change of mood. Fawkes had largely been silent in the presence of others and radiated his disapproval over his bondmate’s tampering with Harry and Poppy’s memories back in August.
Dumbledore hadn’t thought it possible for a phoenix to sulk more than a few days, but Fawkes had clearly been trying for a record. Fawkes just didn’t understand that, sometimes, unpleasant things had to be done for the greater good of all.
He sighed, hoping this indicated that Fawkes little tantrum was over. Turning his attention back to Harry, he asked, “How was your summer?”
“It was okay at my relatives… I guess. They didn’t manage to kill me.” Daniel/Harry made a subtle stab at what had really happened, but made it sound like a joke. “The last couple of weeks were great though. I loved exploring Diagon Alley.” He stared at Dumbledore for a moment. “I don’t think you asked me here to talk about my summer holidays.”
“You’re right.” Dumbledore admitted. “But I did want to make sure you weren’t suffering any lingering affects from the basilisk you faced at the end of last year.”
Harry mentally snorted. If Dumbledore hadn’t tried to alter his memory, he might’ve believed him, but not now.
“I’m fine. Did you also check on Ginny Weasley?” Daniel/Harry wanted to know. “After all she suffered a lot more than I did at the hands of Tom Riddle.”
“Yes, I did,” Dumbledore managed to look slightly hurt that he would even have to ask. “But since you live in the muggle world during the summer, I thought I should make a special check to see that you were doing ok.”
“Well if you’d let me stay here like I asked last year, you would’ve known wouldn’t you? Is that all you wanted to know Headmaster?” Daniel started to get up as if he were going to leave.
“Yes, I’m afraid there is one more thing,” Dumbledore looked slightly apologetic, though no one on the other side of the desk was buying it. “I’ afraid that the permission slip you gave to Professor McGonagall has disappeared and until another one is signed by your Aunt or Uncle, you will not be able to go to Hogsmeade with the rest of the students.”
“That’s not fair! I’m to be punished because Professor McGonagall lost my form!” Daniel/Harry knew he had to react like a thirteen year old boy and not a thirty-eight year old man. “I had a hard enough time getting them to sign the first one. I doubt they will be willing to sign another especially after I blew up Aunt Marge.”
Dumbledore looked down at his desk, hiding his relief at the news that Harry might not be able to get them to sign the form again. Looking back up, he told Harry, “I’m sorry, those are the rules. We have to have the signed form. We will of course send another permission slip to them. I’m sure they will do the right thing and sign it.”
Daniel/Harry snorted. “Right. What dream world are you living in, if you believe that?” He paused for breath and then as if a thought just occurred to him said, “Have you told the others that they aren’t going either? I mean she couldn’t have been so inept as to lose just my slip now could she? If mine is the only one lost, I’m going to start wondering why.”
Dumbledore’s silence was telling. Daniel/Harry stared him in the eye. “So mine was the only one lost. If that’s the case, I want to see where in the school rules it says I can’t go to Hogsmeade, because my Head of House lost my permission form.”
Dumbledore quickly hid his dismay at how suspicious Harry was proving to be, not to mention the disapproval he could feel coming from Fawkes. He had expected Harry to accept his ruling, given that it was meant to keep him safe from Black. He would’ve made it up to the boy, once Black had been caught and Kissed. Given that the boy was staved for affection, it would’ve been so easy to make it up to him just by spending a little time with him. He had no intention of allowing young Potter out of Hogwarts while Black was on the loose. The Wizarding world couldn’t afford the loss of their saviour, given that the prophecy concerning Harry and Voldemort was still active.
“Well the Rules and Code of Conduct for Hogwarts students can be found in the Library, so you can check it at any time, but you will see that I am right.” Dumbledore made a mental note to have one of the house elves remove the books from the library as soon as Harry left his office.
/We don’t need the rulebook. We already know he lying./ Harry hissed. /Remember we checked the rulebook. It said as soon as that form was handed over my name would automatically be put on the list of students allowed to go to Hogsmeade and only detentions or a parent or guardian revoking that permission could remove my name from the list for however long they decree./
/I know, but it is best to have our proof in writing, especially if we have to take it to a higher authority like the Board of Governors./ Daniel said calmly.
/We have to be able to get out of the castle. You said so yourself./ Harry reminded him.
/This might work out even better./ Daniel told him. /No one will look for us here, and so we should be able to get out and back in without being detected./
/I wonder if Professor McGonagall knows that he is blaming her for my being confined to school./ Harry commented.
/I doubt it./ Daniel told him. /But we should be able to make her feel guilty, if she doesn’t bother to contradict him./
Looking at Dumbledore, Daniel/Harry told him. “Let me have the form. I’ll make sure it gets to my relatives. At least I know Hedwig won’t lose it.”
Heliopolis Main Archive
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Two Shall Be As One
by CorwalchKapitel Bemerkung:
/Words, and more words/ = conversations between Harry and Danielwords and more words = private thoughts, flashbacks, dream/mindscapes
words and more words = Ancient or parseltongue
§words, words, and more words§ Phoenix speak
(AN: The one in control of Harry’s body will be listed first, Ex: Daniel/Harry would mean that Daniel was in control. Harry/Daniel means Harry is. This was originally supposed to be all one chapter, but had to break it up, since the file was too big. So you get 2 chapters for the price of 1.)
Kapitel Abschlussbemerkung:
Ostendo prosapia nemus materia versus iens tergum triginta genit: Show family tree, maternal line going back thirty generations.Site Navigation
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