Triangle Disease
The Conversation
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style='font-size:14.0pt'>Triangle Disease –
Part I
"Courier New"'>Chapter Twenty-Two
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"Courier New"'>“The Conversation”
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Twenty-one “Wanted by Everyone”
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“Sir, that’s all news to
me, but it completely tracks with what I’ve learned today and some of the
things that I’ve theorized. I want you
to know that I didn’t have an investigation ordered regarding the bonding
ceremony because it seemed at the time that everything that happened was in
keeping with the law and no one from the prosecutor’s office of the Wizengamot
came to us with a complaint. I can’t say that I am at all surprised about what
you’ve discovered. Apparently, Potter is
usually at the center of whatever weird is going on at Hogwarts and comes up
smelling like roses.”
“Well, that will be all
for right now, Beardslin. Thank you for your hard work and thank your Assistant
for me. He did an excellent job.”
“He’ll be pleased to hear
you say that, sir. Thank you.”
With that, Beardslin took
his leave. There was a tremendous amount for the Head Auror to contemplate.
There had to be at least one book that could come out of all of this, he mused
as he walked back to his office.
Hogwarts
"Courier New"'> Dumbledore was pacing his
office, addressing the air or no one, or himself. “He could have killed me,
bold'>Armando. He beat me easily. How
did he become so strong?”
bold'>
bold'>The painting of the old headmaster looked down on his protégé as he paced
the floor. “It’s not the first time, Albus, that you’ve been bested. You’re 167
years old and you don’t have the speed and strength you once did.”
bold'>
bold'>“It’s more than that, Armando. Harry did it with almost casual ease. He
moved so fast that I could not catch him with any of my castings. He’s
obviously perfected Volo Voltum –
more so that I ever was able to. I wish
I could show you the memory. Perhaps you could make better sense of what was
happening that I.”
bold'>
bold'>Another of the portraits spoke up, as if it too had something for Albus
Dumbledore to consider. “He’s soft, you know, Albus. He couldn’t kill you. What
makes you think he can kill the Dark Lord, if he couldn’t bring himself to
dispatch you?”
bold'>
bold'>Dumbledore’s eyes flamed with anger and he turned to face the picture of
Phineas Nigellus directly. “How dare you,
Phineas. Of all the arrogance that has entered this office these last many
years, for you to presume that Harry is not up to the task because he could not
bring himself to commit murder? You offend me sir.”
bold'>None of the snide, condescending attitude that had marked Phineas
Nigellus in life was lost on his portrait. “Offend
you, Albus? You’ll forgive me if I don’t see it. I think the Potter brat is
soft and doesn’t have the stones to make the sacrifices necessary to beat the
Dark Lord.”
you would find I am a very bad person to anger.
You know nothing of the concerns of the living or the heart. That must
be why you never married while you were still ambulatory.”
Phineas was suitably chastised and turned his back on the current headmaster.
At that precise moment, there was a loud rapping at the recently restored door
to the headmaster’s office.
bold'>
bold'>“Come in, Severus. Thank you for responding to my request so fast. I’ve
asked Professor Flitwick to join us as well.
Tea?”
bold'>
bold'>Severus Snape was in his usual dark mood and the idea of having to
discuss Harry Potter soured his stomach all the more.
his own research when Fawkes had showed up with the request for him to come to
the headmaster’s office.
bold'>
bold'>There was another knock at the door, Dumbledore waived a hand, and the
door opened. Professor Flitwick walked
in and saw Dumbledore and Snape standing in front of Dumbledore’s desk.
bold'>
bold'>“You sent for me, Albus?”
you for coming so quickly. I find myself extremely concerned by the events of
the other night in Diagon Alley and I wanted to hear your thoughts on the
matter.”
Snape glowered and snarled, which made him look even more sour-faced. “
cold, I can’t help you. Based on what you have already told me, it seems that
Mr. Potter has a particular vendetta against me and he acted deliberately to
keep me out of the fight. He obviously has a huge ego to soothe and having a
fan club has done nothing to help the situation over these last several years.
. However, despite the fact that I loathe the boy, he did not harm me when he
surely could have and for that I have to be grateful.”
will take my leave. I do not thing that I can add much to the discussion today
and I do have many hours of research ahead of me.”
And so Severus Snape went back to the Slytherin common room and from there to
his private laboratory.
dismissed him with a smile and a gentle waive – one that also opened the wooden
and steel door that led out of the Headmaster’s office. The door had taken two
weeks to repair and restore the magical incantations that had protected the
first door. Harry had no idea that he wasn’t supposed to have been able to
destroy it completely and that even full-grown death eaters would not have been
able to so much as scratch it.
core, he was genuinely afraid of Potter and worried that if Harry had decided
to kill him, he most assuredly would not have survived. In that respect, Harry
was just like his father, James, only a thousand times more powerful.
think of what I told you?” Professor Flitwick’s elfish nature was
coming out as he stood bouncing on the balls of his feet. He had always been
inclined to like Harry Potter and see the good in him. Harry’s skill with
charms was surpassed by only two other students in the school – Hermione
Granger and Luna Lovegood.
as a witch or wizard can get to an expression of pure magic. Charms and curses
both mostly rely on the power and most especially the WILL of the caster. If
Harry has found a way to focus his will more directly or he has done anything
else to increase his power, then I am actually not that surprised that Harry
beat you in Diagon Alley. His was the greater will at the time and he had more
to lose, so you were not able to summon as much pure magic as he was.”
sat down in his chintz chair and motioned for Flitwick to take a chair opposite
to him. He looked tired and several of the portrait subjects on the walls of
the office looked down with sympathy and understanding at the current
Headmaster.
battle with Harry was bound to have happened. It just turns out that you’ve
finally met your match. Well, now, actually. You’ll never be Harry’s equal.
He’s the most amazing wizard I’ve ever met. You’re aware, of course, that
Harry’s magical index test went so far off the grid that they don’t actually
know what the upper number is for him.”
that is known by only eight people, not including
Harry, Hermione or Ginny. I must have your Wizard’s oath that what you’re about
to hear will not be repeated to anyone.
Flitwick nodded – for he had been expecting this – and began the oath “
magic that I will never knowingly divulged the information that I am about to
receive and I promise to protect the information from all seekers.” A green
light swirled around him, in clockwise vortex, before settling at his belly and
then disappearing into him. That meant that he had internalized the promise and
that it was now a part of who he was as a person and
how he thought.
looked at him with a gentle smile of appreciation and thanks.
what we are speculating about regarding Mrs. Hermione
Harry.”
last August? About the use of the Trigonum Morbus curse against Mr. Potter?”
quickly filled him in on everything, so that he was working off the same page
as everyone else.
Filius – here’s the difficulty: we believe that just prior to the bonding
ceremony, Harry went and did something impossible again. He cast the “
Granger and Ginerva Weasley were the recipients.”
thunderstruck for several long minutes, thinking. “Albus, I don’t know how much you really know about bonding and marriage
charms, but you should be aware that if Harry did that, and he was able to give
his heart and soul to the young ladies, the binding charms of a marriage
ceremony were completely unnecessary. Those charms didn’t hurt and certainly,
they reinforced the bond, but the bond was already established. By offering
such proof of his love and by its acceptance, Harry had already ‘married’
them.”
surprise me that Harry was able to perform that charm. Not after what he did to
my office door.”
would not have believed it possible, Professor. I’ve never, ever heard of such
a gathering of power by a student. Not even Tom showed that kind of power at
the same age.”
was rocking back and forth in the charm as he talked to the Headmaster.
that burrowed unnervingly into your soul – or at least, it felt that way.
penetrating stare and it was uncomfortable.
half-elf professor looked up at his old friend and squeaked “
young women, and if they have the same kind of love for him, which we should
assume they do – based on their observed interactions while they were here –
then Harry is probably more powerful now than any wizard in the history of
Magic. He beat you, Albus, probably without expending any of his real power. If
he were really angered, you’d not be here. You’d be no more than a burnt spot
on the wall somewhere, I’m afraid.”
Dumbledore was not used to having his prodigious magical abilities described in
such a fashion, but objectively, he had to agree that he had probably finally
ways, it made him inordinately proud that he had been given a chance to teach
Harry. It wasn’t very often that a person had a chance to teach someone who was
going to change the path of history.
unconscious - he sat and cried.”
voice had gone very soft and he looked at the headmaster whose eyes were moist
with the tears of sadness and love. “Of
course he did, Albus. He loves you as a father or grandfather or…I don’t know.
It must have hurt him tremendously to have to do that to you. I get the feeling
that perhaps he’s right in this. He – they – should be left alone until the
children are born. He knew that he shouldn’t be forced to choose between his
love and loyalty to you and the love that he has for his wives. You probably
should have known better, Albus, if you’ll accept my saying so. You should have
realized how much he loved Ginny and Hermione. Everyone knew that he and
Hermione, especially, were inseparable and always had been.”
didn’t know how strongly Harry felt for them. I didn’t know that he had left
this office the first time that morning – after we had told him what the curse
and its cure – would require of him and cast the Credo charm. If I had known
that he had done so, I would perhaps have thought better of trying to force
them to be here, under my control.”
live as husband and wives? Could you really have kept control of the rest of
the sixth and seventh-year students and prevented them from sleeping together
and being intimate? They all look up to Harry and Hermione and Ginny and the
three of them would have had expectations that you probably could not have tolerated.”
I am an old man now and…” Dumbledore hesitated “
of a young wizard in love. Should I have trusted Harry and his wives from the
beginning and supported them in their choice? That I did not trust them has
resulted in the death of three fathers – three good men with children of their
own – who trusted me to look out for them. How can I face their families,
Filius?”
got up and began pacing the room again. Flitwicks’ eyes followed him. “
Those men did not need to die and I should not have tried to capture Harry that
way. I thought if I just asked him nicely that he would agree.”
snorted. “As Mr. Weasley has said: not
bloody likely. Mr. Potter and his wives did not want to be found and that is
why they went to such efforts to hide their location. I told you two weeks ago
that my efforts to scry for their location have all failed. That means either
they have cast the Fidelius charm or they’ve invoked blood wards in combination
with whatever house wards are appropriate. I have assumed that they are living
at one of Harry’s ancestral homes and that the location is magically protected.
If they’ve done all three – blood wards, Fidelius charm, and house wards, plus
unplottablility, they are effectively impossible to find. They’ve essentially
dropped off the map as the muggles say. It’s a pretty damn good defense, if you
ask me. Even if Tom throws every resource he has ever had at the effort, he
will fail. It probably buys Harry and his wives and their children a year or
more of safety that they never would have had here.”
Headmaster looked at the diminutive charms professor. “What can we do, then?”
that they do not want to be found by you. I’m willing to bet that the Weasleys
know where they are though. Madame Pomfrey probably does, too. It is likely
that she’s going to attend the birth and so she’s protected by the wards and promises
that bind healers. You’ll never break those and you’d be a fool to try. My
advice is ‘Let it go’. When Harry and his brides are ready to come out of
hiding, they will. Who knows, maybe they will come back to school voluntarily
in the fall. You can try to encourage that – but you are going to have to be
ready to acquiesce to a number of demands that you might not like.
was quiet for several long minutes and Flitwick watched him intently.
this ever get easier, Filius? I’m beginning to hate this job. I never thought I
would say that, but I’m beginning to hate the choices I have to make and to
regret the choices I’ve already made.”