Harry walked up to the gates of Hogwarts on a bright and cold morning. His hands were stuffed in the pockets of his robes, which were a deep red color encrusted with the ministry's badge. Although they weren't quite auror robes, they made him look official.
Harry especially wanted to give that impression today, just because he knew his audience.
When Harry arrived in front of the tall brass gates of Hogwarts complete with their stylized "H" he stopped and stood, waiting. From there, he waited. Then he waited…
It was over half an hour before someone walked up to the other side of the gates. Albus Dumbledore opened the brass gateway and stood on the threshold, looking at Harry.
"Good morning Harry," Dumbledore said.
No mention of the fact that he'd been late to their meeting, overshooting the arranged time by a significant margin. If pressed, he would no doubt say that he was busy. The real answer was that the power plays had already begun.
Harry wasn't in the mood to whine at him. He disregarded Dumbledore's tardiness.
"Morning," Harry greeted in return. "You must've gotten my letter, headmaster. I hope you've given it some thought."
Dumbledore stroked his beard. "Yes, I had the pleasure of reading your correspondence. In fact, I mulled over it for quite a while yesterday morning when I received it. All of breakfast, I considered your request. The thing is, Harry, you're asking quite a lot."
"I want to investigate Hogwarts," Harry said. "The ministry has reason to believe that Voldemort has hidden a critical item of his somewhere in the school."
"That is what your letter said. You did not, however, specify just what this item might be," Dumbledore said.
"I thought a horcrux was too heavy for a simple letter," Harry said.
The hand that was stroking Dumbledore's beard stopped. His bony fingers tightened against his long white face hairs, squeezing down in a way that was probably painful.
The moment of tension passed as Dumbledore resumed his previous calm demeanor, his hand returning to its idle task.
"A horcrux? Is that a kind of dark object?" Dumbledore asked.
"It's a sliver of Voldemort's soul," Harry said. "But you already knew that. What I'm curious about, is how long you've known he had horcruxes."
"Slivers of his soul… If that is true, that would be most serious indeed!" Dumbledore said. "I would have to make sure the Order was in the best position possible to take care of it. Even a single piece being out of place could spell disaster in a matter as critical as this one."
Dumbledore stared at Harry, who wasn't enough of a fool that he couldn't understand the meaning.
Harry was that piece out of place. He should've been going to school and dancing to Dumbledore's tune. Instead, he had gone to the ministry.
The headmaster had made no secret of his disapproval of Harry's choices. He tried to dissuade Harry from leaving Hogwarts, criticized him for recruiting his friends, and spoke openly against the ministry's ability to handle this war.
At one point, Harry had been on Dumbledore's side. Cornelius Fudge was an absolute buffoon and no one suffered more from his incompetence than Harry, who had been prosecuted for an entire year, just for spreading news of Voldemort's return.
It was Scrimgeour's apology and honesty that led Harry to give him a chance. Since then, their partnership had been mightily successful. Personalized training led to Harry growing by leaps and bounds as a wizard, something that never would've been possible as a Hogwarts student. He had contributed to the war and dealt significant blows to Voldemort's cause. Although the start had been a bit bumpy, even the other key figures such as Thicknesse had proven themselves to be competent and skilled.
It wasn't Harry's choice to alienate the Order. He'd like for them to work with the ministry to produce a united front, but Dumbledore wouldn't allow that. The only choice was this tension laden relationship, then.
It all made Harry feel very tired.
"Why could you never trust me sir?" Harry said.
"Trust?" Dumbledore asked. "That's a strange question. I don't think I have ever not trusted you."
"The diary was the first horcrux," Harry mused, transitioning to speaking to himself. "You would've known what it was once you investigated it. Nobody else except an unspeakable would have… But if it was you, you'd know. That means you knew how Voldemort was keeping himself alive for at least four years. But you never told me, not even this year when the war really began. Did you take measures to deal with his horcruxes? Maybe. But Merlin if I know what they were because you never shared them. Not with me, not with your brother, and probably not with a single member of the order."
"You're making a lot of assumptions," Dumbledore said.
Harry ran his hand through his hair and laughed wryly. "What else am I supposed to do? Like I said, you never tell anyone anything, so the only option we have left is to guess. Even now, I'm guessing. Why won't you let me into the school? Is it just because you hold a grudge over how I disobeyed you? Do you distrust anyone from the ministry? Or do you just not care about the safety of your students?"
"As an educator, I will not stay silent over such an allegation," Dumbledore said in a grave voice.
Harry dragged his fingers out of his hair, holding his hands up, almost as if he was being arrested. "Alright, alright, I take it back," he said.
But he stressed the word "I" to remind Dumbledore who that "allegation" was coming from.
First year, delving into magical traps and confronting a dark wizard possessed by Voldemort.
Second year, sword fighting one of the most deadly magical beasts in existence while a horcrux controlled it.
Third year, trapped during a full moon with a werewolf on the loose.
Fourth year, forced to compete in a deadly tournament he never entered himself in. Then, he was used by Voldemort in a resurrection ritual, barely escaping. Oh, and don't forget the death eater that impersonated one of Dumbledore's oldest friends as a teacher for the whole year!
Fifth year, Harry led his friends to the department of mysteries to protect the prophecy when no one else would.
Every single year he faced death multiple times. Harry was skipping at least half the deadly scenarios he'd gone through, like his brush with dementors on the quidditch pitch or Hagrid taking him into the forbidden forest at night for a detention.
Harry didn't need to yell at Dumbledore about unsafe conditions; his mere presence was all the evidence he needed to win the argument.
Dumbledore sighed. He truly sounded sad. He was either a good actor… Or he was mourning the direction Harry had gone when Harry chose to walk off the chess board Dumbledore saw in his mind.
"This meeting seems to have turned sour," Dumbledore said. "A theme, it appears, when we speak to each other. Your parents would be sorry to see the path you've gone on in life."
For the first time since the conversation started, Harry felt himself lose control of it. He bit down on his own teeth as a stunning wave of anger washed over him. He almost drew his wand and Dumbledore, a decision would see him get his ass handed to him.
He'd grown a lot, but there was a reason only Dumbledore had ever been able to best Voldemort in a duel. Even though the headmaster looked quite sickly this morning, Harry was aware that he'd be thrashed if he acted up… As frustrating as it was to admit right now.
"I think mom would be too busy cursing you out for leaving me with the Dursleys to care about my leaving school," Harry said tightly.
Dumbledore looked grave. "Lily recognized the value of family. She would know it was for the greater good. James always showed level judgement as well. He was truly the perfect Order member."
"I take it you're not going to allow me into the school?" Harry asked.
"I believe I would be remiss in my duty as headmaster, should I allow the ministry the sort of open access to the school that you've requested," Dumbledore said.
Harry nodded tersely. He kept his hands in his pockets as he turned his back, beginning to walk away toward Hogsmeade. Harry's fingers closed around his wand, just in case, because before he left he looked back at Dumbledore.
"Family IS important, Dumbledore. Despite what you say, I know that. That's why I've never killed any of mine."
Dumbledore took a step back, as if Harry's words carried a physical weight and had given him a shove. For a brief moment, his right hand became visible; previously, it had been hidden in his sleeve. Harry caught a glimpse of black fingers before Dumbledore's sleeve slid back into place.
Harry's words had exactly the effect that he wanted. Dumbledore was remarkably controlled as far as his emotions… Harry just happened to know the one thing to truly hurt him. He got to see something he'd never seen before: for a brief second, Dumbledore looked livid. Probably a lot like Harry had when he mentioned Harry's parents.
Dumbledore stepped back, and the gates of Hogwarts crashed shut. BANG! The extra force made a sound like a gunshot had gone off, confirming to Harry that he wasn't welcome, forcing him out.
Too bad for the headmaster, Harry never expected to be allowed in.
LINE BREAK
From the front gates of Hogwarts, it was a thirty minute walk to the Great Hall in Hogwarts. It took another five minutes of walking to get to Albus Dumbledore's office.
Hogsmeade, on the other hand, was just a three minute walk. From the edge of town it took another three minutes to get to the building of the Hog's Head.
These times were crucial to the plan Harry's team had concocted.
The inn and tavern had been temporarily shut down since its proprietor joined Harry's task force. Today, however, Aberforth was back in his old stomping ground. When Harry walked into the dirty room, he saw Aberforth bent over in front of a heavy cabinet. Aberforth was casting some kind of diagnostic charm, the results of which left him nodding with satisfaction. He looked over when he heard Harry's footsteps.
"Mornin'," Aberforth grunted.
"Hey, Aberforth," Harry said, smiling at the man. A second later, he said: "Oh, and also sorry, Aberforth."
Aberforth squinted at him, looking so much like Albus but without the condescending glint in his eye. "I don't trust apologies like that. Are you planning to do something bad to me?"
"No… I just felt like I should say it," Harry said.
Arianna was Aberforth's sister too, after all, so using her to score points against Albus was somewhat underhanded, even if Aberforth would probably agree with the point Harry had made.
Aberforth squinted at him, still feeling like he was the butt of some sort of joke, before snorting. "Well, your cabinet is ready. Unspeakables ran tests and I did too. It's all safe."
Harry touched the worn wood of the cabinet. He'd seen it once before sitting in Borgin and Burkes, when Harry made a Floo mistake and ended up in Knockturn. That's how he knew exactly where it was. And, Harry had a pretty good idea where its partner was, too.
"Well, I ought to get going then!" Harry said. "Time is crucial, after all."
Aberforth nodded, handing a few items to Harry that Harry had left for safekeeping. The first was his invisibility cloak, the second was a map of Hogwarts that came complete with moving names telling him where everyone was.
Harry secured both of these under his arm and opened the cabinet.
"Wish me luck," Harry said.
"You better not let a damned horcrux kill you after you survived the real dark lord so many times," Aberforth said. "Kick ass and come back."
The word "safe" went unsaid at the end. Aberforth might be gruff, but he was the more caring of the two brothers. It was like the old saying: you can't go judging by covers.
Harry stepped into the vanishing cabinet and disappeared, his body and possessions being whisked far past the gate that had been slammed in his face, carrying him directly into Hogwarts.
He had a horcrux to destroy, no matter how many meddling old men had to be circumvented to do it.
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