Chapter 31

The Christmas vacations were upon us and most of the students had chosen to visit their homes. I, along with a handful of others, had of course opted to stay. Though unlike canon, Harry also was among the majority who had chosen to visit their relatives. In the meantime, I was planning on doing plenty of stuff during this vacation time where most of the castle was empty, which was mainly using the Integrator on the Cerebrus and the Basilisk. I also wanted to investigate and experiment a few things, like the effects of my Integrator on a magical artifact or my unique magic system.

I had almost forgotten about my initial purpose in getting Black out of prison this early, which was to get myself in the accelerated program, and thus I set out to do just that.

I promptly sent off a letter to Amelia Bones, subtly telling her what a great job I did by correcting the wrongs of the Ministry and freeing an innocent man and also praising her competence and righteousness. Then I also sent a letter to Sirius Black which was more informal and a little less subtler than the previous one. In his letter, I mentioned the Dursleys, Azkaban and Pettigrew so that I could cash in on his gratitude. Anyways, before long I got a reply from both of them and that is why I was currently walking through the Ministry, accompanied by Sirius Black, to meet Madam Griselda Marchbanks.

Marchbanks was a lot more quicker than her old age would imply, and soon enough I had gotten access to the accelerated program, which was something that was barely known to the majority of the people and the ones who did knew they had no chance in getting into it. I didn't dwell on the ignorance of the people or the politics which forced them to be oblivious, I was just glad to get in a program which would enable me to give my OWLs in my third year and NEWTs in my fifth year. I of course wanted to go through a faster program but I wasn't willing to know what Dumbledore would have in store for me in that case. After a little written test, which was quite easy, they tested my magical skills, which was even easier. My prowess with magic, even suppressed by quite a margin, impressed both Black and Marchbanks, and Bones too told me they were willing to train me as an Auror after I took my NEWTs. Well, after that somewhat bland event, I went back to Hogwarts and promptly found myself face to face with the one and only, Severus "Snivellus The Greasy Bastard" Snape!

Apparently, Headmaster Dumbledore had 'requested' a meeting with me.

"Lead the way, Professor Snape," I told the waiting Potions Master who swiftly turned around and walked through the hallways of Hogwarts, his black robes billowing behind him.

Before long we reached the gargoyle that guarded the entrance to Dumbledore's office. Snape whispered the password probably intending to hide it from me but my senses were far beyond human at this point. The only reason why I was able to function normally was my mega-chad brain, albeit normal would be a lie seeing as I was basically going around listening to stuff I really didn't want to (seriously, I had forgotten I lived in a castle with a bunch of hormonal kids who matured a lot faster than normal until I heard some... unspeakable things *shudder intensifies*) and seeing things from distances with a clarity impossible for humans, even wizards. Thankfully my sense of smell wasn't much improved than average, or god knows what awful stuff I'd be forced to smell.

The revolving staircase took us to Dumbledore's lair, an office designed to give the unsuspecting prey a false image of it's owner, who managed to pull off the old, wise and extremely eccentric act quite well, but in reality was a old, cunning, manipulating and powerful wizard. Alright, maybe my image of Dumbeldore had been twisted due to fanfictions but I thought it would be prudent to be on guard against him. After all, he was a powerful man, both politically and magically. So I was prepared to use all of my acting and bullshitting skills to the maximum. PLUS ULTRA!

Ahem, anyways, I entered the room behind Snape, who knocked on the door, and found myself face to face with the man himself. Headmaster Dumbledore was in his benign grandfatherly look, with his half-moon spectacles hiding his eyes that were twinkling a little. I was careful to not make direct eye-contact with the Legilimency Master in front of me and politely greeted him, like a diligent and sincere student who did not go behind his back to gain permission to do something that was generally approved by him.

Snape had left after ushering me in through the door and now it was just Dumbledore and me who were left in the room. He nodded in reply to my greeting and conjured a chair out of thin chair for me to sit in, which I did after he gestured me to.

"Would you like a lemon drop, Mr. Arrington?"

Ah. I was wondering if the opening line would be a Dumbledore classic and he didn't disappoint me.

"No, thank you Headmaster, but I am more of a chocolate guy."

"Ah, well. We all have our preferences."

I didn't know how to reply to that so I just channeled my inner teacher's pet, which wasn't that hard, I just imagined what Hermione would have done in my situation.

"Yes, Headmaster."

After a while which must have been seconds but felt like an eternity to me, Dumbeldore looked at me with his half-moon spectacles perched on his crooked nose and said with a hint of a smile,"Well, Mr. Arrington, congratulations on your Order of Merlin medal."

"...Sorry?"

I, of course, was only acting like an ignoramus. After all, it was only natural for me to be awarded at least something and what better than a medal that seemed to have a lot of value but in fact was practically useless? I needed to act clueless to create the persona I wanted in Dumbeldore's mind, a brilliant student who was Ravenclaw through and through and lacked any ounce of Slytherin, though did possess quite a bit of Gryffindor as well.

"Why are looking so shocked, Mr. Arrington? I would have thought you'd be already aware of this considering your brilliance." Dumbledore was definitely smiling now, his mirth visible in his twinkling blue eyes.

"I am going to get an Order of Merlin medal?" I should be getting an Oscar for this.

"Yes, my boy, and it must at least be a Second Class considering your deeds."

"Hmm, I hadn't thought of that." Yes, inner actor, show me what you got.

"...You hadn't thought you would get one of the most prestigious awards in our society for the meritorious deeds you did? Acts that actually mean a lot to Wizarding Britain at that." Dumbledore seemed to be a bit taken aback. Damn, I certainly didn't expect that.

"No, not really Headmaster. I was more concerned with contacting Madam Marchbanks." I didn't think I would have this much fun conversing with Dumbledore.

"..Sorry? You mean to say you orchestrated all of..that just to get in contact with Madam Marchbanks?" And that's twice he's been taken aback. Bow before me, peasants.

"Of course, Headmaster. What other reason would I have to do all that?"

"..."

I just made Dumbledore speechless! Forget bowing, plebians, you better start serving me as your king. Time to see how far I can take this.

"I just thought that I needed to do something that could get me in contact with Madam Marchbanks as soon as possible and I was fortunate enough to find a map which revealed to me Peter Pettigrew's location. After that it was a matter of a little research and a bit of planning and the rest is history."

Dumbledore seemed to have gotten himself in control and his eyes were decidedly twinkling a lot more now. "And why did you think you needed to get in contact with Madam Marchbanks in the first place?," he said leaning forward a little.

"Well, Headmaster, I had learnt that Madam Marchbanks was in charge of the Exam Board or something similar and well, I was wondering if there was a test one could take to assess themselves and if it was possible to take advanced classes with a good enough result."

Don't fail me now, my bloody beautiful bullshitting mouth.

"Hmm, and why did you not think of contacting any of your teachers?"

"Well, sir, I was about to but that was when I came across Pettigrew's name and my curiosity got the better of me. Anyways, my plan to contact Madam Marchbanks wasn't urgent..."

It was. It was extremely crucial for the continuing well-being of my mental state and the physical state of others.

"...and when I found out the story of Sirius Black I just couldn't help but feel it was very fishy. And well, it didn't take a genius to put it all together."

"An intriguing tale, Mr. Arrington. Though I must once again ask you, why didn't you tell the teachers this time?"

"..." I purposefully mumbled something while looking at everything but Dumbledore and it wasn't hard for me to make my face a bit red, to show my 'shame'.

It is the final stretch, inner actor! Don't stop with your bullshitting now!

"I was too...occupied, sir." I managed to make it sound like I was spitting out something highly shameful, extremely unwillingly.

"Occupied, Mr. Arrington?"

"Um.. sir, I meant...um, it's just.. it's just that it was a t-travesty what happened to Sirius and um...well, the injustice of it all didn't sit well with me."

I was killing it. This is what true acting is supposed to be.

Dumbledore was silent for a while and just when I began to think I had overdone it, he said in a grave voice, "Ah, if only all wizards possessed your disposition what a wonderful world we would have been living in, Mr. Arrington. It is always heartening to listen to young wizards such as yourself and yet I find it to be a failure of wizards like myself when someone as young as you has to do something that should be done by adults."

Dumbledore seemed to have been lost in his thoughts for a while and that gave me a little time to digest his words. For starters, this was either a good Dumbledore (relatively speaking) or a Dumbeldore who was an incredible actor. The strength of the emotions he had managed to put in his words, I doubt I could ever do that if I were acting...

Well, this didn't change much. Even if he were a good man here, that didn't change the fact that Dumbledore was a powerful man and a leader who I had no doubt would do whatever it takes to survive and save as many people as he could, even if it meant sacrificing a few.

I was brought out of my thoughts when Dumbeldore once again spoke, this time with a voice a lot more gentler, "Well, Mr. Arrington, I believe it is almost time for dinner. You are free to go but before you go ahead and join your friends I want you to know that I will help you settle in the accelerated program to the best of my ability, so don't worry too much." He finished with a smile that was a clear sign of dismissal.

I left the room, a little stunned at the fact that Dumbledore seemed to have no problems with me getting myself admitted into the accelerated program.

Well, it seems as I do have a skill I can call my own. That was a pretty good meeting, not at all like what I was expecting. I suppose it would be prudent to keep practicing my acting skills so I don't get rusty and it was also time to kick my Legilimency training up a notch because that would be a great help in my acting.

I was going to sit with the third years after classes resumed and I had taken the electives Ancient Runes, Arithmancy and Care of Magical Creatures. I was planning on taking all of them to get myself a Time-Turner but apparently only Hermione had that privilege because I was told to drop a few subjects. Or it could be because 11 year olds seem less trustworthy than 13 year olds. Eh, who am I kidding, of course it was the protagonist aura which made McGonagall give Hermione the Time-Turner.

Well, it hadn't been even a week since the start of the vacations so I had quite a bit of time to do what I wanted to. Now it was time to brainstorm, how do I gain the ability to speak parseltongue?