A Recurring Visitor

After entering Dumbledore's office I notice his face is much more serious than I've seen it before. That being said I've only met that man a handful of times.

As I step closer he speaks first "Mr. Black, how come it is always you who comes into my office? You have graced my office a record number of times, no student has even been to my office this many times in a year."

I grin "Maybe we should have our meetings in McGonagall's office then." I say trying to lighten the mood.

He just sighs and shakes his head, "I expect an in-depth explanation of what happened in the Forbidden Forest two nights ago."

I just roll my eyes "Alrighty pull out the Pensieve, I may as well just show you."

Dumbledore nods and waves his hand as the wall next to me opens and a Pensieve floats out stopping in front of me.

I pull out my wand and put it up to my temple as I slowly begin to pull out a glowing silver strand of memories and place them in the bowl. As the memories touch the water the silver stand sways as it is slowly transformed into a dark cloud swirling in the glowing crystal-like water. I take a step a step back from the bowl gesturing at it for him to take a look.

Using my very limited skills I managed to only change the memories only slightly. After Quirrell runs away I made it so instead of chasing him I immediately started healing Luar. It was doable since I wasn't altering memories, I was just rearranging them and not giving the connecting portion.

I can thank Sid for my limited knowledge of legilimency and occlumency. This is what happens when you only study the theory behind it and not how to actually do it. That being said I'm just lucky to have it.

Walking up to the Pensieve Dumbledore looked at me before putting his face into the water. After he started viewing the memory I decided to pass the time by petting Fawks who seemed to be enjoying the attention. Fawks looks like he was kind of young still, I wonder how fast they grow up.

After a few minutes of waiting for Dumbledore he raises his head with furrowed brows 'oh no' I think to myself 'Did I mess up the memory manipulation?'.

He looks at me with a complicated look "Boy, how did you know that… 'thing' was Professor Quirrell?"

I shrug "I guessed since I was at the time nearly sure he is a Death Eater. Now I am positive he is a Death Eater; the fact he was talking to someone in a whisper I assume was him contacting another Death Eater… or Voldemort."

He nods his head but doesn't look very believing "And how about the fact you were able to chain cast three spells together in such a smooth manner."

I roll my eyes "You should know better than anyone that talented people don't follow common logic."

Giving me a hard look Dumbledore seems to be assessing my answer. As Dumbledore looks me in the eyes I feel something trying to sneak its way into my mind with Legilimency. Not having experienced this before I pour all my power into the wall on my mind repelling the intruder.

Dumbledore stumbles a step back onto the desk he puts a hand down to support himself while the other is holding his head. I get startled at his fall while Fawks seems to squawk in concern for him.

My brows furrow as I realize it was him who tried to invade my mind. It seems like the glaringly obvious answer but I didn't want to think someone like him would try that. I just stand there staring, waiting for him to defend himself as to why he just did that.

If he had not had his defenses down due to underestimating me he would have easily invaded my mind. This thought scares me a little.

After a second of collecting himself, Dumbledore looks back up at me without meeting my eyes. I notice his complexion is a bit paler than before.

"You'll have to forgive me, I'm not very trusting of those who have such overwhelming talent. History has shown that everyone with such talent will be corrupted eventually." He still doesn't look at me as he speaks.

My brows furrow "But you aren't like that, and as far as I know you were extremely talented in your younger years."

He finally meets my eyes again "EVERYONE gets corrupted by power, I have yet to see an exception in my long life."

I give a small smile "Well you met one today."

He sighs and shakes his head "You are a lot like him you know."

"My father?" I ask genuinely curious.

He shakes his head again "No, like Voldemort."

I shiver a bit at his words "Is… that an insult headmaster?" My eyes narrow trying to decipher his complex gaze.

"Take it as you will, he was charming, talented, and worst of all deserving of pity. You on the other hand… are much kinder, he never showed any kind of emotion, he was just a charming young man." He looks off into space with a sorrowful face.

"As long as I have my friends and family I don't think I could ever see myself going 'Evil'" I say with disbelief in my voice.

Looking back up at me Dumbledore asks "And what if your friends and family are no longer there?"

My fists tighten "Then the only ones who have to fear me are those who take from me." I feel the darkness rumbling at the thought. Dumbledore seems to flinch as he looks into my eyes but quickly shakes it off.

He stands back up while giving a small chuckle "You also remind me a lot of me boy, at least with the way you think. I have never harmed an innocent on purpose, but if someone I care for is in danger then I would do anything to save them. Many would call me a Devil for the things I have done yet millions of others call me a Hero, only I know which to be true."

Seeing that the tension is dispersing I continue "A devil who becomes one to protect the ones he cares for was never truly a devil. Likewise, a hero who becomes one for vanity or fame was never really a hero, to begin with."

Dumbledore smiles at what I said "A lot of wisdom coming from a 12-year-old."

My face goes a bit red and I feel my ears burning 'How did this go from him trying to read my mind without permission to him making fun of me?'

I click my tongue as I turn around and begin to walk away "I'm going back to class now Headmaster."

He just nods "I'll cover this up for you Mr. Black but don't do any more outlandish things for a while. I can only cover you so much before the ministry finds your talent. If they find out... I don't know what will happen."

****

After that everything went back to the same for the most part.

Quirrell never showed back up for obvious reasons so the last few weeks of classes went great as Dumbledore took over the Defence Against The Dark Arts. Rather than having classes, he would have big lectures with every one of that year in it but he only did them once a week. I learned more in those lectures than in all of my classes with Quirrell.

Harry, Ron, Hermione, and I went to go see Luar almost every day. Harry and Ron eventually got close enough to Luar so she let them pet her while Hermione even got to ride her. I sent a letter to Auntie Dromeda to see if we could make a pen for her in our massive backyard and she agreed. Hagrid even arranged a friend to help send her there.

I ended the year with all O's which made Hermione upset since she got an E in Defence Against The Dark Arts. As I said my goodbye to leave before the train shows up again I walked out past the bridge to apparate home.

It was then I felt my pocket glowing with warm light. I grabbed it without much thought and I heard Sis Dora's weak voice in my head.

"I'm sorry Soren,"