[1990 Pt.23]

Nathan's body slightly shivered as he walked towards his dorm after his 'surprise and completely accidental' meeting with Albus Dumbledore.

After Nathan accepted his suggestion, Dumbledore nonchalantly continued on towards the great hall as he chatted with Snape.

Nathan had also taken his leave after telling Alan and Orion that he would be going into the common room. They had nodded uneasily, seemingly taking notice of his unpleasant mood after their unplanned meeting with the Headmaster, and Nathan had not made the effort to try to reassure them.

Nathan knew that if Dumbledore had made it a point to ambush him in the entrance hall then their talking about him going into the forbidden forest would not matter, but Nathan was still annoyed at the two children for meddling in his affairs. He knew they were just worried about him but the irrational anger still did not subside.

And Nathan knew the cause of his anger- Albus Dumbledore either due to the weirdly acting protective enchantments placed around the sanctuary that he had probably come across on one of his walks around the castle or through the Hogwarts rumour mill and the portraits of the castle, was now aware of Nathan and would keep track of his activities, unwilling to suffer from another Voldemort.

And Nathan did not like the idea of someone like Dumbledore tracing his every move. Especially when Nathan took into account the simple fact that he would do a lot of questionable things in the coming years, none of which the old man would approve of.

He still remembered how Dumbledore had casually thrown around the capabilities of the information network he wielded when Tom Riddle had come for the DADA position interview.

The man had known a lot about someone as secretive as Tom Riddle who while impulsive was also perhaps one of the most paranoid and remorseless people in the wizarding world. Gaining any kind of information on an enemy that killed anything that wasn't completely loyal to them was very difficult and Dumbledore had done so even when he was just keeping track of a wayward student.

People liked to shit on the Order's intelligence-gathering capabilities in his original world but, if Nathan was being honest, people had very high standards for intelligence-gathering agencies in his world. What people did not realize was that the Order was not the CIA.

The CIA or any other good intelligence agency operated on a scale so mind-boggling that people sometimes forget that these agencies were established during the Second World War and had been involved in information and intelligence conflicts constantly and consistently for the past few decades. People dedicate their whole lives trying to master the craft of spy-craft and espionage in these agencies.

The wizarding world did not suffer from large wars often. Dark wizards and lords were mostly guerrillas in nature and there had never been a war between two large countries in the wizarding world. Not one in recent recorded history. After all, there are a few reasons for conflict when you can create new land, conjure new clothes and double your food on a whim at the wave of your wands. Nobody wanted to die for the leadership if the sole reason to do so was that it would allow the leadership to gain strength. Politicians still tried the trick but it almost always backfired.

The only reason that conflict ever arose in the magical world is because of reasons that most muggles would find jaw-dropping. The most common cause of fights and battles between wizards has not been conflict over land, food or oppression, but because of love or differences in culture.

Nathan still remembered the twelve-parchment long list of wars caused due to two different suitors liking the same woman. India, for example, had so many such conflicts that they had to lay down a lot of rules to prevent the massive loss of life that could be caused due to two families of wizards going at each other. Swayamvar, if he recalled correctly, was the term used for it.

Nathan entered the common room after a short walk from the entrance hall and climbed up the stairs towards his dormitory. He waved at a few of the Hufflepuffs that greeted him before he moved on, his mind still occupied.

The order simply was not a coalition of spies but rather a group of volunteers who were willing to fight against Voldemort and found the ministry's approach to the situation to be lacking. The only good spies that the Order had were Peter Pettigrew and Snape. And even those two were actually pretty tame in comparison to the spies within the Axis and Allied powers during the Second World War.

No, the order's greatest strength was Albus Dumbledore. And if some of Nathan's suspicions were correct then, the man was also perhaps the master of the best spy networks in the wizarding world. The rest of the order was just a set of eyes and wands that Dumbledore used to achieve an objective during the war.

The order seemed so ineffective during the second rise of Voldemort because the story was being told from Harry's perspective and also because Dumbledore probably did not want to corner Voldemort too much, not when he was actually incapable of dealing the immortal a fatal blow.

An immortal dark wizard who felt cornered would be far more dangerous than one who believed he was winning. This was also reflected in Dumbledore's plans as Voldemort wholeheartedly believed that he was winning until suddenly he was losing on all fronts.

Nathan pushed open the door of his dorm and haphazardly sent Jacob a greeting before he finally tossed himself into the bed.

'The problem with Dumbledore is that I can be at the top of the world one moment, all my plans going right before suddenly they won't and I would find the tables turning completely and utterly.' [1]

"At least take off your shoes mate."

Nathan groaned as his thoughts were broken by the expected reprimand from his twelve-year-old companion. He sometimes really hated his life.

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Author Notes:

[1]: People often decry Dumbledore's plans but what is often understated is how great they were when it came to nailing down Voldemort's personality and actions to the last-minute details. If any of you remember how canon went then you will remember how Voldemort was winning until the last moment before suddenly everything went wrong for him.

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