The Great Light Wizard

8 September 1996 Friday

- Master Dumbledore," a man of mighty stature appeared in the fireplace, which was closed for the time being to all outsiders who did not know the password, and bowed to the great wizard.

- Come in, Christopher," Dumbledore looked surprisingly tense, something the great wizard was not usually known for, even his usual aura of benevolent good-naturedness had disappeared.

The wizard sat down in the chair that had crawled up to him at his beck and sipped with pleasure from a mug of fragrant tea, to which Dumbledore, after hesitating, added a small amount of dully glowing purple powder before his eyes.

- I have already lost eight, Master," Dumbledore's most trusted man said, setting the cup aside. - The assassins' guild, after being ambushed by the Aurors three times, refused to accept the order for Lord Bleak's head. Unfortunately, the death of the paranoid Alastor didn't make things much better.

- All right," the Headmaster nodded after a moment's thought. - Let them stop trying. And don't try too hard, but if you get the chance, your men should take this upstart down.

- I don't think there will be such a chance," the wizard shook his head. - Black, though he moves around the country, is never alone. Outside the mansion, he appears either with a battle group and raids the distant villages in search of the Revelers, or he is accompanied by one of the strongest wizards. No mercenaries, or even my men, no matter how much gold they're offered, are going to come to Hogwarts after the massacre at the end of the school year.

- Diagon Ally? - Dumbledore said curtly.

- Mark Greengrass, who seems to be the second man in their alliance after Bleak and Potter, has a couple of dodgy men assigned to it," Christopher grumbled. - 'They discreetly follow Bleak around on his heels if he goes out anywhere alone, someone keeps alerting them to when it's happening.

- Even so... - The Headmaster thought for a moment.

- Which is particularly worrying. - Christopher sipped his tea. - At the Ministry, the Bleck-Potter party had already swept the Aurorate and the Department of Law and Order. Scrimgeour of late, though he hadn't realised it himself, was largely a screen behind which that backwater American, Brown, was running things.

- Kingsley didn't report it.

- Your Kingsley is a blind idiot," Christopher grinned. - He was and still is an oak-headed auror-militant, though he rose in the Aurorate to be one of its deputy chiefs. With all due respect, Master, but he's only good for chasing down the Drunkards, and he won't know trouble until an Alliance or Voldemort battle group breaks into his house.

- Good. - The Headmaster hesitated for a moment. - 'What about this girl?

- Honestly, I don't see the point in eliminating her. - Christopher answered unexpectedly. - Potter's back, which means your Longbottom won't be chosen, there's no point in killing his fiancée and bringing blood vengeance on us from the Longbottoms and the powerful families loyal to them.

- We should have eliminated her earlier! - Dumbledore bellowed in surprise. - Then the Longbottoms would have made sudden ill-advised moves and could have been vilified in the public eye.

- After two assassination attempts, the heir to the Longbottoms, whom you, Master, ordered to be kept alive under all circumstances, has not left Luna's side. And with him a few puppies from their home-grown dueling club," the wizard replied nonchalantly, sipping his tea. - The death of one girl in Hogsmeade is one thing. But the death of five children at once is quite another. The resonance of their deaths in Hogsmeade, or Hogwarts for that matter, which would have been used by both Bleak's party and Malfoy's pro-Voldemort clique, would have put you out of office faster than you could do anything about it.

- All right," Dumbledore said after a brief duel of glances. - I trust your intuition and your political instincts. What about Flamel's house?

- It's not clear," Christopher shrugged. - The alchemist may or may not have given his soul to the devil, but even if he is dead, his mansion and dungeons are full of something unknown to wizards. I've lost three search parties there already. They go down into the dungeons beneath the mansion and don't come back. I don't know what Flamel could have left in the basement that would have killed the spell breaker team I hired last through Gringots. A mage of your level should go down there, supported by amulets; ordinary wizards have nothing to do in a mansion that was the domain of a great alchemist for almost six hundred years.

- So you didn't manage to get the alchemist's laboratory notebooks," the Headmaster said unhappily.

- As far as I know, Horace Slaghorn bought one of the unknown notebooks for a huge sum of money," the wizard grinned. - It was said about your old colleague that he is trying to repeat Maestro Flamel's experiments.

- I will speak to Horatius," Dumbledore said thoughtfully. - There's enough of the Stone in reserve for now not to worry about the future, but.....

- But you can never have too much Philosopher's Stone," Christopher smiled understandingly. - I have completed the preparation of the cache.

- Is it as I said? - Dumbledore raised an eyebrow. - And the perpetrators?

- At the bottom of the Atlantic," Christopher smiled serenely. - They did their job splendidly, but now the mercenary league has got a big grudge against our middleman.... Angela was found dead in her own home... "Accidental" fireplace enchantment, according to the Dutch aurors.

- Then I want to inspect the cache immediately," the Headmaster stood up, slipping an unassuming cloak over his luxurious robe over his shoulders. Pulling out a long, straight bundle from a goblin-made safe built into the wall, Dumbledore hid it under the cloak, clipping it to his belt in the manner of a sword.

After a short series of apparatuses, the wizards found themselves in front of a small hill, somewhere in the central part of Scotland.

- Not a bad job," Dumbledore looked around meticulously. - Even I can't see the entrance to the dungeon.

- All the gold you gave us to furnish it went into this place," Christophe nodded dignifiedly. - The work was done by goblin craftsmen from the mercenary league.

- Not bad, not bad," the headmaster walked around the mound, kicked at the ground, and pulled out his wand and began to move it from side to side with concentration.

- As you can see," the wizard continued serenely, picking a blade of grass and chewing it with pleasure, "without special search charms the entrance is impossible to detect. It's a much better defence than the muggle-repelling and combat spells outside that cottage you told me about.

- Here," the Headmaster said with satisfaction, stopping at a seemingly featureless stretch of slope.

- No," Christopher grinned suddenly. - If you were to open the hidden passageway now, a cloud of asphyxiating gas, which we borrowed from the Muggle military.... that wonderful gas is so conveniently undetectable by magical search tools.

- Hmm," Dumbledore stepped away, just in case. - So the entrance...

The wand fluttered in the air again.

- Don't bother, Master," Kristoph stepped forward. - In fact, there was no entrance at all. Well, there was, but we filled it in with earth and put turf on top of it so that the hill was completely intact. If you try to dig through the few false passages you find, you'll find poison gas everywhere. The only way through is on the north side of the hill, near a large boulder on the slope. There's an empty space left in the defences.

- Good," Dumbledore looked at the hill with satisfaction. - 'Show me.

Christopher approached a large moss-covered boulder, from the heated side of which an emerald lizard immediately slid into the grass, and with a powerful pulse of magic pulled out an earth plug, immediately spraying it with some spell unknown even to Dumbledore into weightless dust, which dispersed in the light autumn breeze without a trace.

The wizards stepped into a passage opened in the hill, from the ceiling of which numerous roots dangled, some unevenly trimmed and torn by Christopher's magic.

After only a few steps, they found themselves inside - in a small, stone-lined room made of granite blocks. Not a single drop of magic, just rough stone and mortar holding them together.

- Not bad, not bad," Dumbledore walked over to a small pedestal in the very centre of the room.

- It's the best the goblins could come up with, Master," Christopher sat down on the stone slabs near the exit, not bothering the Headmaster of Hogwarts to look round the room.

- Well," Dumbledore finally said, scrutinising the stonework. - The work is well done.

Dropping his cloak from his shoulders, the Headmaster unhooked an outstretched bundle from his belt and carefully unwrapped it, pulling out of the fine cloth a scabbard gleaming with gold and jewels, in which rested a sword with a deliberately simple hilt, the only decoration being a hilt headband made in the shape of a grinning lion's mouth.

- Godric's sword? - There was surprise in Christopher's hitherto impassive voice. - You spent one of the Founders' four known items for this spell?!

- Times are such that they require harsh judgements," Dumbledore cut in, "and the Sword of Gryffindor has become dangerous to keep even in my own study, though I'm sure I can expect no attacks at Hogwarts in the coming months.

Pulling the sword from its sheath, Dumbledore tried on its hilt for a while, then, taking the hilt with both hands, pointed the blade downwards.

- H-ha! - Shrouded in flame for a moment, the blade entered the stone pedestal two-thirds of the way down and stopped.

- Almost like King Arthur's sword," the Headmaster grinned wickedly, jerking the unyielding hilt.

- It's a shame they never found Excalibur," Christopher said, rising from his seat. - A priceless relic shouldn't lie in the ground.

- They say that Merlin hid Arthur's sword in such a way that it will never be found until the end of time," Dumbledore stepped out of the hiding place, leaving his companion to seal the passage.

* * *

Sirius Black lowered his wand in exhaustion.

The village was burning. The small village in the south of England had become the latest target for the Death Eaters' youngsters.

- Michael's dead, Sirius. - Anatole Carmichael, covered in soot, approached the Alliance leader, who stood motionless. - He'd been blown up by the Blast along with the house.

- Sookie. - Black gritted his teeth. The dark mage's eyes remained fixed on the two prisoners, who were huddled together, a pitiful sight.

Most of the captives were newcomers, who knew nothing but Voldemort's one and only base, where they had been briefly trained. No instructors who dealt with the newcomers only in disguise, no place - just another deserted farm in the hilly or mountainous parts of the country. Nothing.

Sirius scanned the minds of the trembling captives with his legilimenship, deliberately not hiding the intrusion into their thoughts. Around him, the fighters of the alliance's duty team were gathering.

- It's empty again," he said, raising his voice to his men.

- Frank, Johnny," he was now addressing those who stood before him, bound by spells. - For your crimes against the civilian population of magical and Muggle England, you are sentenced to death. The sentence will be carried out immediately, and there will be no appeal.

The eyes of the prisoners widened in horror - they expected that they would simply be handed over to the Aurors and, perhaps, later rescued from Azkaban by their fellow prisoners.

- AvadaKedavra. - A beam of green from Sirius' wand struck the chest of one of the hapless Revelers. The body sank to the ground as if all the bones had been pulled out of it.

- AvadaKedavra," came a second soft slap.

Sirius looked round the assembled crowd with a hard stare.

- Search the village, find the survivors, heal them, wipe their memories, and send them to the Muggle authorities. The wounded to the Bleck house. Anatole, Frederick, gather what's left of Michael and pack it up to send to the family. The Alliance will compensate the family, as far as I know they've been left without a breadwinner.

Sirius stepped away from the wizards scattering around the village and kicked the charred wall of the house in anger. The war was slowly gaining momentum. But war not in the conventional sense, when the armies of opposing sides converged in battle. No, it was a war of the splinters of the magical world against everyone else, against peaceful wizards, against defenceless Muggles. It was common for the revelers to attack a small village in the countryside, destroy the houses, torture the inhabitants, and train the newcomers for blood.

Blek looked regretfully at the granite wall, where stone chips had been generously mixed with something brown - the only other mid-circle Reveler accompanying the newcomers had been a tough nut to crack. His defences were shattered only by one of the spells Bleek had inherited from Cygnus, and Voldemort's servant was ground into a bloody mess.

- Sirius," the heavy hand of Remus Bleck, dressed in a black robe, rested on the wizard's shoulder. - Don't beat yourself up. We saved as many people as we could.

- Remus," the mage turned around, and the werewolf saw that the head of the family's eyes were absolutely frantic. - I don't understand why the Ministry rats are silent. The magic detectors should have been choking on the amount of spells they were using here. And in the end. We arrive late to a delayed signal and see dozens of dead bodies and those bastards!

Sirius kicked what was left of the Eater leader, dirtying his boot in the bloody sludge.

- Even now, when we've arrived, and we've had a massacre with forbidden magic of the highest levels, where are the Aurors, where are the Ministry investigators! Where's any reaction from those bastards?!

Bleck's eyes grew darker with each word, the rage raging inside him weakening his control over his family's power.

- Sirius," the werewolf said softly. - What's stopping you from going to Matilda's department to check on her, after you've coordinated with Bones? I think Amelia would be happy if she could put a couple of corrupt rats to death. You and Brown would give Amelia the power to back Amelia up, and she'd get a fair trial and quick verdicts without the red tape of the Wizengamot.

- That way there'll be a lot of noise, and the small newspaper reporters will be up in arms again, saying that the Blecks are going to take over the country under false pretences. - Sirius shuddered. - Who would want a country where everyone obediently went to the slaughter?!

- If Alastor were alive, he would offer to take over the country. - Remus thought for a moment. - The ministry had rotted completely.

- We need to talk to Bones about this," Sirius shook his head. - Even if we manage to bring down the Minister and get the Aurorats on our side, which is entirely possible.... We don't have enough good managers.

- But that's something to think about. - Remus shook his head. - We have Brown on our side, who has the most capable squad in the Aurorate, and his men are the envy of most honest Aurors.

- And the Aurors are run by a cowardly jackal, Scrimgeour, who should have been born a bureaucrat instead of running the only relatively effective force in the country.

- Perhaps those aren't very nice words," Remus glared. - But even the head of the Aurorate isn't immune to Avada...

- I'll think about what you said," Sirius apparated.

Lupin looked sadly at the burned-out village, where some of the wizards were still searching for survivors, and headed for the centre. It was not a good idea to leave the place unattended, where the Revelers or the Ministry officials might well pay a second visit.

The werewolf who had once been a homeless exile from the wizarding world had changed dramatically. By joining the Bleek clan, he had, without wanting to, gained some sort of recognition from the rest of the magical world. And marrying his favourite girl helped him to get rid of the inferiority complex that had plagued him for many years. The werewolf no longer looked so sad and quiet, and it wasn't even the newer and better quality, though still modest, clothes; there was an unfamiliar hardness in his eyes. In the end, Remus, with a lot of help from Nymphadora, had managed to accept his inner beast, and now he used that ability when he had to lead a squad of mages on outings.

* * *

- Potter," the haughty voice of Nott, who had been sitting in the next row for the entire lesson, stopped me near the corridor exit. Flitwick had already left with Fleur, so there was no one to stop the combative Slytherin.

- What does the heir to the Nott family want? - I turned back to the pale Slytherin.

- You may have found some people somewhere who gave you back some rights to your family name, Potter," the Slytherin hissed. - But you'll never belong among the aristocrats.

- Among those who bow down to a half-blood, supposedly the Heir to the great Salazar? - I've had schoolchildren turn round at the sound of my voice. - Your Dark Lord is the offspring of a wizard and a Muggle, so it is not for you, you half-blood scum, to talk to me about aristocracy and honour.

Nott turned as pale as death. Some of the Slytherins looked at me like they were ready to tear me apart for insulting their adored Voldemort.

- Potter," Pansy Parkinson walked over and stood next to Nott. - You're getting dumber right in front of your eyes, though, what else would you expect from the descendant of a muggle-born wizard.

- Well, I, Parkinson, am at least the son of a pure-blooded wizard and a muggleborn witch.... - I bowed mockingly. - And the one your parents, and many of you probably, swore allegiance to, can't even boast three quarters as much magical blood as I do.

- Soon the Potter family won't be able to boast of pure blood at all," Nott growled. - If you didn't even marry a muggle-born wizard, but a...

- FlamioIgnis," the fire whip from my wand swept around the Slytherin's throat. - 'Nott, one more word and your family will lose an heir.

- Listen up, everyone," I glanced around the crowd of students. - The first person who so much as breathes a word against my wife will be challenged to a duel to the death and go to hell. And I don't care if you're schoolboys, you need to learn to take responsibility for your words. Theodore Nott, heir to the Notts, your words are an offence to the Potter family. Apologise or we meet in the dueling chamber tonight.

- Lord Potter," Malfoy said lazily, but I could see that his eyes were truly serious. - A friend of mine, Theodore Nott, had a few too many drinks in Hogsmeade last night, and today he made some unkind remarks about you and your worthy wife. On his behalf, I apologise for my friend's hasty words.

I looked carefully at Malfoy, at the pale Nott.

- So be it. - The whip disappeared, vanishing into thin air, and I went into the great hall for lunch.

- Harry," I had barely settled into my seat at the Ravenclaw table when the Head of Faculty came up to me. - The Headmaster has ordered you to report to his office immediately.

- Hmm," I stretched out, as I'd heard the word 'ordered' from many of my classmates. - Well, he could order anything, but if he wanted to fight again, why not respect the request?

- Terry," I turned to my neighbour, "could you warn Slughorn that I'm going to be late for class?

- No problem," Booth replied, keeping his eyes on the steak.

- Did you miss me? - soft lips pressed against my cheek. A smiling Fleur sat down next to me. - I can't leave you alone for a few hours, you'll get into trouble.

- It's not my fault that everyone at Hogwarts can just insult a fellow student and think it's a normal situation," I muttered, "As far as I know, in the old days, even at Hogwarts, even lesser insults were dueled.

- Dumbledore doesn't encourage duelling at the castle," Neville, sitting a little further away, interjected.

- That's what's strange," I replied. - However, considering that Dumbledore's greatest desire is to destroy the traditions and culture of the aristocrats..... It's not surprising.

* * *

After lunch, I said goodbye to Fleur, who was going to Flitwick's third year class at Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw, and headed for the Headmaster's office, which I hated going to, having been there regularly every year for the most disgusting reasons.

- How do you explain this, Mr Potter? - Dumbledore's icy voice rang out as I entered the office.

- He should simply be expelled, Headmaster," Snape, seated in a chair not far from Dumbledore, eyed me squeamishly.

- I don't know why you're making a pointless fuss again, Headmaster," I made a chair for myself with a wave of my wand, though once again the old man didn't ask me to sit down, calling for a reprimand.

- Don't you understand? - The Headmaster raised his voice some more, and I realised he was furious. - You dared to use a forbidden spell on a student, and I will be forced to call the Aurors!

- But before that, your student, knowing full well the consequences, insulted me and my wife. That's one. Secondly, the code of the pureblood families allows for lesser offences to be challenged to a duel. And thirdly, your Slytherins are too sure of their own impunity, and it's time to rectify that.

- You're forgetting yourself, Potter," Snape growled, glaring at me.

- Am I, Snape? - My voice rose with rage. - Your snotty aristocrats don't have a problem coming up and insulting someone, calling them a mudblood or an animal. Don't you think that in a school that declares that all students are equal, it's the Slytherins who are privileged?

- That's beside the point, Mr Potter," the Headmaster interjected. - 'I've sent out a summons to the Aurors for a case of assault on a student.

- You know, Headmaster, you've caused your own problems. - I stood up from my seat. - If you want to make a mockery of yourself by summoning aurors to protect one pureblood schoolboy from another schoolboy who is the head of the oldest and noblest house, then you are only signing your own incompetence as headmaster. You've created a situation where you can insult anyone in the school with impunity with words that would have been fought to the death under the code a dozen years ago.

- You'll have to stay here for a while, Mr Potter. - Snape drew his wand defiantly.

- What is your emergency, Headmaster Dumbledore? - Across the fireplace stepped first Michael Brown, followed by three of his subordinates in purple robes.

The Headmaster grimaced - he had been expecting a squad of aurors on duty, not wizards subordinate to Brown personally and unspokenly to me.

- Today a member of an ancient family was attacked using a forbidden magic, the Fire Whip," the Headmaster began, but I interrupted him.

- Mr Brown, this is a deadly insult to one aristocrat by another aristocrat...''

The Auror, realising the point, drew himself up sharply.

- In that case, I am obliged to question both parties to the incident personally," he began. - And we shall begin, then, with Lord Potter, as the accused of an as yet unproven offence.

I grinned at the grim Snape, glaring at the aurors whose uniforms he knew well, having met them on opposite sides of the barricade.

- Lord Potter," Brown turned to me, and his subordinates stood behind me, not that I feared them; one of them, James Cormat, had sworn a vassal oath to me as soon as I became head of the family. - Tell me the reasons why you used the Knut spell on your fellow student, and what exactly did you do?

- Mr Nott stated in front of witnesses that the Potter bloodline could not boast of purity, as I had married, as he put it, not even a Muggleborn, but a Veela. I'm well aware of the bill the Ministry is trying to push through regarding the rights of the magical races, and their new name under that bill, so that statement deserves at least a challenge to a duel.

- You have no proof! - Snape bellowed. - 'Theodore Nott informs me that you insulted him for no reason and attacked him with a forbidden spell. And I'm inclined to believe him.

- Did Mr Malfoy confirm Nott's accusations? - I asked curtly. - And would Mr Nott be willing to take Veritaserum to confirm such an accusation?

- And what did you do next, Lord Potter? - Brown didn't let himself be confused.

- I created a whip of fire, swung it around Nott's neck, and told him that if anyone insults my family with a word, he will be challenged to a duel in accordance with the code. After that, as Mr Nott was speechless, Mr Malfoy apologised for him, and I accepted the apology.

- So I take it you were guided in your actions by the code, Lord Potter? - Brown asked me, smiling kindly.

- Exactly," I met the Headmaster's gaze calmly. - I don't believe that even a schoolboy has the right to insult other people with impunity. And as a member of the Board of Trustees, I will raise at the next meeting the issue of what gross omissions in discipline at Hogwarts the current Headmaster is making.

- What do you mean, Mr Potter? - I thought Dumbledore was going to have a stroke of rage.

- Upon entering Hogwarts, all students are told that they have equal rights. Yet you, Headmaster Dumbledore, while you pay lip service to encouraging and supporting Muggleborn students in the school, in practice you do nothing to spare them from the infringement of their rights and to teach them at least a minimum of magical culture.

- What do you call infringing on the rights of Muggleborns?!

- Not even the fact that from first to fourth year, Mr Malfoy regularly called Miss Granger a mudblood and Mr Weasley's mother a fat pig living in a pigsty, for which he was never once rewarded with any disciplinary work.

- Headmaster Dumbledore," Brown turned to the angry wizard sitting in his chair, "I see no offence in Lord Potter's actions. If Lord Potter's spell had physically harmed Mr Nott, I would have been obliged to intervene. Given that Lord Potter is only formally an apprentice, and in reality has the status of head of the Potter family, he is not liable for using combat spells unless they have caused harm to others.

- I think the incident is over at this point. - I rose from my chair, wanding it away. - 'My respects, Headmaster, Professor.

With a mockingly polite bow, I left the office.

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