35 Old Snake

<Dumbledore's POV>

As the boy, Oz, entered my office I realised instantly how unique he... The way he carried himself, the look in his eyes, it was as if he's seen more than most his age...

The first thing the boy seemed to be interested in was Fawkes, an understandable situation. After all phoenixes are rare and nearly any student that comes in here gets enthralled by Fawkes. As I called out to him he turned up to look at me. I tried again to get a read on him and his level but its still heavily masked. However, now im up close I can tell that the ring on his finger is the culprit, the thing thats blocking my probing.

Just before he arrived, Severus sent me a message about how the boy had revealed himself to be a descendant of Merlin. I had my suspicions already but hearing those suspicions confirmed gave me a start. This confirmed everything to me, even confirming to me that the boy is probably also the enchanter 'Lee Oswald' that appeared recently. That ring on his finger must be the Ambrosius family ring, its true name was the 'Ouroboros Ring' if I remember correctly...

The boy seemed wary of me as we talked, As if he has formed an opinion on me already and understands me to a certain extent... such a situation made me feel stifled for the first time in a while. His expression didn't change one bit while I was explaining how I recognised him as Merlin's descendant, telling me he already knew that I would figure it out.

Finally as I questioned him on why he exposed Harry's abuse so publicly he rebuked me harshly for my 'short-sightedness'. Hearing everything laid out made me realise again that the boys intelligence was incredible as he explained how I could have dealt with the situation better.

I decided to accept his solution to the matter with Harry, trying to appease him as much as possible. In all honesty seeing how he's grown and how smart he is I truly want him on our side for the years to come. Making another riddle by being antagonistic towards him would just be detrimental in the grand scheme of things.

I do honestly feel guilty about leaving Harry with such people but it was the only way for him to be safe. Mcgonagall all those years back did warn me about how bad they were but I brushed it off as Harry needed to be in a house with a blood relative for the blood ward to work...

As he left though the message he ended on is one that I can't seem to get out of my mind. A soul trapped within that scar... Could it be... did riddle really do 'that'?

He is certainly an enigma that boy... he wields both power and intellect. It also seems as though he knows to some extent what's going to happen in the years to come...

I sighed as I stared at the ceiling thinking of the conversation just passed. Thankfully the boy seemed to be on our side else he could have proved troublesome in the future...

.

Oz left the room heading back to the dungeons with a bitter taste in his mouth. From that conversation alone he realised how tough of a nut Dumbledore was to crack. The man did show pity at the Harry situation and even stated he would sort it all out however not once did he admit that he was wrong.

'If I had no knowledge of future events that Dumbledore would probably have me around his finger by now...'

After talking with him, Oz now had a first hand experience with how manipulative the man could be.

'Luckily from what I can tell the man seems to be wary of me... It almost seems as though he wants me on his side. I guess in his eyes I must seem to be a valuable chess piece... Well at least that means he wont try anything funny with me anytime soon'.

When Oz entered the room he had the plan in his head to showcase his own intellect to some degree. Dumbledore is a man that deep down values talent especially in those that he deems able to be turned into followers. Since Oz seems like a perfect chess piece he wouldn't try to mess with him or get on his bad side for a long while. This in turn would give Oz plenty of time throughout the years to act on his own accord and hopefully reach a level eventually where he doesn't have to dance around the mans palm.

'This year Quirrellmort will be making moves... Harry is the key to taking out Quirrellmort and also is the key to the philosophers stone... That stone... I'd love to get my hands on it. As for the rest of the year... I'll just roll with the punches. I need to get my hands on that marauders map soon and somehow recreate it... Also I need to practice my potion making, that will definitely come in handy for future plans...'.

As Oz went through his plans for the year he eventually arrived back at his room in the dungeons. As he entered his eyes caught sight of the fireplace.

'I wouldn't normally visit that old snake down there voluntarily... but maybe I should go see if he's done anything while I've been gone...'

After making up his mind Oz headed down the fireplace towards the room where Salazar's portrait resided. As he reached the door of the room in question, he was suddenly overcome with a weird sense of foreboding.

'What's wrong with me? why do I feel as if something is off?'

Opening the door slowly, Oz peeked inside the room trying to look at the portrait in the room from afar. As soon as the portrait was in his sight, Oz fell into shock.

'H-he's gone?!'

The portrait of Salazar would usually have the man sat in his throne asleep or awake, right now however the basilisk throne he'd usually be sat on was empty.