Murder Harms Souls? In Numbers, Please

"And what did Lord Voldemort say? Any information on the size of the organization? Resources? Bases? Identities of Death Eaters?"

Albus Dumbledore was sitting in his chair in the Headmaster's office, listening to the report of his wayward spy. Was all this a plot to mock and taunt him? He wandlessly checked himself for intoxication, hallucinations, overall sanity… Having confirmed he was fine, Albus started checking Severus. Because what he was hearing could not be real.

"The Dark Lord announced that you have the Elder Wand," Severus said. This was the only valuable piece of information. The rest qualified anyone for a one-way trip to St. Mungo's. "You are also a Dark wizard who murdered your own family and conspired with Grindelwald…"

Albus choked on his candy. No, he already knew Tom was spreading rumors about his wand. But this… Has Tom finally lost it? Made more horcruxes, and they have addled his brain? In what world would anyone believe this? And horribly, legilimency confirmed it was all true. He could have pushed against Severus's mind harder, but that guaranteed to leave one of them a vegetable. And the truth serum… Severus was exceptionally talented: he has been brewing and taking a personalized antidote based on his own blood since his seventh year of Hogwarts. The solution would take months to purge from the body, leaving him exposed before Tom…

"… a gay pedophile, son of a muggle hater, and a Magister of the Order of Death. Your teacher Flamel is actually a 666-year old lich who dwells in the catacombs under Solomon's temple in Israel," Snape continued.

Albus choked on a second piece of candy and coughed. Merlin, what's next? Tom gathered the Death Eaters for a raid on the London Zoo to torture mudblood elephants?

"Severus, I must interrupt. Can you tell me anything backed by facts?" Albus did not bother hiding the hope in his voice. Did Tom go too far with the Cruciatus and broke Severus's mind? Or Severus turned? But his vows were in place, and he would never forgive Lily's murderer…

"The Dark Lord is conducting gruesome experiments and rituals."

"That much is obvious, Severus. Can you tell me the details?"

"You know I am under a number of charms analogous to the ones you placed on me. They make me physically unable to tell you most of what I know."

"Are you saying that your month and a half long absence brought absolutely no results? What were you even doing all this time?"

"Brewing healing potions and receiving Crucios. Participating in ritual preparation."

"Details, Severus."

"The Dark Lord's student returned in near death condition from potion intoxication and magical exhaustion. As a potions master, I was ordered to get her back on her feet. I sabotaged as much as I could. She will recover, but it is going to take a very long time. She poses no threat to anyone in the foreseeable future."

"Severus… Crouch personally assured me she was dead."

"I don't know who assured you of what, but she is alive, though in terrible shape. I can provide the memories."

"Yes, please do that before you leave. I will watch them later. But are you absolutely certain? More than 20 Aurors died that day. Was it definitely Elena and not Voldemort in disguise?"

"I am certain. I saw them both at the same time. It could not have been a time-turner: Elena has potion intoxication and magical exhaustion while the Lord exudes power and health."

"Bad… Have you learned who she is to him? Lover, daughter?"

"No. No one knows anything. But I learned that the Lord is preparing to conduct the ritual of blocking Cordner-Verner syndrome."

"And for whom is he willing to expend so much effort? I don't believe in his sudden altruism."

"I do not know. My job was to prepare the ingredients."

"Is that all, Severus?"

"No. The Lord ordered David Hume to kill you as punishment for his father's failure. Everyone was cheering. I believe the only purpose is torturing the parents. He does not expect the boy to succeed."

"Yes, I already know. Keep a close eye on the boy, Severus. I am afraid he might poison some of the students."

"A detailed report will be on your desk tomorrow," Severus finished.

"Continue gathering information, Severus. I will tell you a more precise course of action once I review your memories and report. For now, let's talk about Hogwarts. I substituted for your classes for over a month. Hogwarts has changed.

First, a number of students purchased used books with handwritten notes in the margins… We confiscated them with the Ministry's approval and have been cleaning the children's memories. But we are only aware of those who brought their books to Hogwarts. The clever ones memorized the spells and destroyed the books… The infirmary is full. We already expelled three students, and one was sentenced to two years in Azkaban for using Shadow Whisper on a classmate. I tried to use my influence, but the Wizengamot would not budge. Another student tried to force a niffler out of the ground with lightning. His wand is beyond repair, but I was able to reattach his arms. Two more started a contest for the largest fireball. The flames kept going out, so they decided to increase the room's oxygen level… Fortunately, Flitwick happened to be walking by. He stopped them, took off a thousand points from each, and gave them detention for the rest of their Hogwarts careers… Needless to say, we are running out of healing potions.

Someone learned and spread a ghost banishing spell. A seventh year Ravenclaw banished Peeves. We could not expel him for illegal spell use: he was hailed a hero, even the teachers and the Board of Governors defended him. Myrtle was banished when she disturbed a couple's privacy. We did expel those two. It helped to prevent more losses, but I had to personally patch the Grey Lady."

"Headmaster… Peeves should have been banished decades ago," Snape carefully noted.

"You are thinking too narrowly, Severus. Ghosts are a part of the castle surveillance and defense system. And Peeves… He brought pleasant breaks from the routine, stopped the school from becoming too drab. And thanks to Peeves, we did not need to teach cleaning charms - even the laziest students excelled at them by the end of their first year.

Next, Severus. All teachers are now required to attend every quidditch match. House Heads must be present at their teams' training sessions."

"I am a legiliment, professor. I am extremely uncomfortable in large crowds of emotional people who know nothing about occlumency…"

"I have the same problem, but we have no choice. The Board bought everyone racing brooms. Madame Hooch can't handle the children alone. Even I struggle to keep an eye on 14 children darting at over hundred miles per hour and purposefully colliding with one another. The Gryffindor seeker bashed his head open at full speed. It wasn't a Dark magic wound, yet I barely saved him- it took time to gather all the brain bits from the field. Some children suffered psychological trauma. I can't be sure I will always make it in time. I tried banning the new brooms. It was the only time no one supported me, not even McGonagall. The Board wants to add broom racing as a second school sport. I am resisting to the best of my ability, but who knows how it will end…"

"Can you not outright ban them, Headmaster?"

"The Ministry on whose territory we are located and the Board who finances us always have the final say. It is becoming more and more difficult to block their initiatives, and the brooms are not the worst of it. They continue introducing new extracurriculars. For instance, the "Binns-free history club." It is not the best idea to tell children how wizards of the past resolved the problem of lacking energy for a spell." -that was putting it mildly, Albus thought. Most magical traditions were rooted in antiquity when it was perfectly acceptable to use a captured or killed enemy in war. Sadly, humanitarianism was a relatively recent invention… And a muggle one at that…

"Keep an eye on your students, Severus. The school received new muggle studies textbooks. Books with graphic illustrations of muggle battlefields, gas chambers, prisons, serial killer biographies… And they all stress the difference between magical and muggle population sizes. For example, that the British armed forces are larger than the British wizarding population, and the mobilizable population of China is 80 times the population of the entire magical world. Muggle studies exam questions like "why do muggles need electricity?" had been replaced with "how many people will a nuclear bomb dropped on London kill?" Two-thirds of the children were very surprised to learn a nuclear bomb is more effective than Fiendfyre. By far the worst of it are the photos of Hiroshima ruins and their overlay on top of the Diagon Alley map..

Instead of muskets, children now watch demonstrations of sniper rifles and grenade launchers, where a squib hits the target from a thousand feet away. I tried to prevent it, the Board kept pushing. Eventually, the Ministry interfered. Reviews of 56 experts from 19 countries concluded these books positively contributed to upholding of the Statute of Secrecy. And in the light of all the Statute problems we've been having lately, the Ministry was quick to accept them. Now muggle studies is yet another club where children waited in line to sign up."

Despite his madness, Tom turned out cleverer than expected. Instead of force-feeding children propaganda, he made them willingly reach for the information he needed. Hogwarts was one of the world's top schools, but its muggle studies and history of magic programs were somewhat.. abridged… No need to promote hatred, children should start their new life with a blank slate. Because the true history of the magical world consisted of nothing but horror, horror, horror. The slaughter, slaughter, and sacrifices… Then some extraordinarily powerful ritual and.. Hyperborea. It was found. The Atlantis sunk. Crete… No, the labyrinth was trivial, even with its "special" Minotaur… But their attempts to channel a volcano eruption at the enemy tragically backfired- nature did not care who it hurt. Pompeii later suffered the same fate…

"I see Hogwarts has changed," Snape remarked dryly.

"You have no idea. Now children check their food with poison detectors or ask friends to do it for them. There are a couple of occlumency clubs, but some attempt to learn legilimency before occlumency… We had to rehabilitate one for a week- he convinced himself he was Schrodinger's cat."

"Hogwarts has always been a madhouse. How could it not be with so many imbeciles."

"You are free to go now, Severus. I will be waiting on your report. This weekend, I'll introduce you to our new groundskeeper. He is doing a remarkable job at stopping the children from sneaking into the forest."

Severus left, and Albus got lost in thought. Everything seemed to be going off the rails. Even Hogwarts no longer brought him joy. He had nightmares that he was still the Headmaster, but Hogwarts turned into a Dark Arts school that made Durmstrang look like a monastery… He checked himself for foreign influences, and everything returned clear. Merely stress and exhaustion. Not surprising…

Albus was able to hide the Elder Wand for a remarkably long time. A wand could be covered with an illusion, but it would draw too much attention and disappear with every use.. His solution was genius in its simplicity: not using a wand in front of witnesses. And so, he cast almost everything wandlessly, regularly straining himself to near unconsciousness. Coupled with a nonchalant face, it made everyone believe him to be the next Merlin.

Another great idea was dressing like a clown. People paid attention to his appearance rather than his wand. Pink bells in his beard would distract anyone. High heel shoes, purple robes… And when in addition to all that he said some nonsense, people were too busy questioning his mental health to notice a very conspicuous wand. They saw the wand but did not remember it.

Also lemon drops. You got asked an inconvenient question or simply need time to think? Offer a lemon drop. While they declined or choked on them, Albus won some extra time. Numbing his own taste receptors with a wandless spell has become a habit.

But in combat, disguise took a back seat. Tom must have compared witness memories. Albus felt relieved he has hidden Gregorovich in time.

Now the secret has floated to the surface and was spreading ripples. A crippled Auror asked him for the wand to return his arms and legs - the Elder Wand could do much for its owner. Dumbledore declined. The crazed desperation of the near-dead magical invalid will haunt Albus for the rest of his life. He had to erase the poor man's memories.

Albus was attacked at his bowling game but managed to stun all seven and erase the evidence. He expected Tom's servants, but these were completely unconnected Spanish mercenaries who wanted the Elder Wand for themselves.

And then Crouch requesting his wand for expertise… He could not risk the wand thinking it got a new owner.

So many problems… For example, that girl who asked him about the Elder Wand. What was he supposed to do? Lie? Albus always tried his best to avoid lying. Not telling the whole truth was more ethical and fooled strong legiliments who would sense an outright lie. Admit he had the wand? Send her away with a made up excuse? Obliviate her? Gellert would have killed her… Albus dusted up on his deflection skills.

"Professor is it true you have the Deathstick?"

What else could he do? Back then, he thought it was a decent idea. The image of a kooky old man had saved him many times…

"I left sex behind many years ago, and you are too young to be asking these questions," Albus said and watched the red-faced girl run away.

Yes, he won that round. But it resulted in new rumors around Hogwarts: Albus Dumbledore surpassed the Dark Lord not only on the battlefield but also in bed…

Albus wished he could laugh at the whispers about "Dumbledore's staff," especially since he had dreadfully few reasons to smile lately. But when he caught the stare of a sixth year who was sizing up his nose to deduce the size of his penis… He was old enough to be her great-great-grandfather! That day, he poured himself a firewhisky for the first time in seventeen years.

When Albus was little, he wanted to become a strong legiliment. He did. Now he only thought about throwing thoughts out of his head.

He wanted to become a powerful wizard. He did. The constant conflicts that came with it were an unwelcome surprise.

He wanted to know everything. Now he knew a great deal. And even though he would never use some of his knowledge, there was much he wanted to forget.

He wanted to find the Hallows. Now he had two out of three. He had the best wand but was forced to do everything wandlessly. And the cloak… Maybe if he left it with the Potters, at least one of them would have survived?

Or perhaps Albus was just tired.

Albus Dumbledore had many secrets. He was born in 1881. Officially, it made him a little over a hundred. An average witch or wizard lived to around 100-120. Being born with more power and spending time near a magic source increased the lifespan, though the relationship was not linear. For Dumbledore, a hundred years should make him look no older than forty. But achieving everything he had set out to accomplish took a lot of work. And now he had to juggle his many positions…

When Albus was a student at Hogwarts, he had earned the permission to use a time-turner by the end of his first year. Thanks to it, his days lasted far longer than 24 hours ever since. And the biological processes followed factually experienced time. Albus was over three hundred… He could handle Tom now but for how much longer? Ten calendar years? Twenty? How much time will it mean for him? As Flamel liked to joke, Albus had all the chances to grow older than his teacher.

Dumbledore's life was no picnic. First he was bullied for being a "halfblood" because of his muggleborn mother. Back then, people put a lot more stock in blood purity. The US, for example, legally prohibited marrying muggles… Then Albus became the "son of a murderer." Then worse. Rumors about his "wrong sexual orientation," disqualification from many jobs based on these rumors, ensuing money problems, mother's death, sister's death, falling out with his brother Aberforth, falling out with his best friend Gellert, strained relationship with his mentor Flamel… The First World War and wizards starting their own conflicts under the cover of muggle chaos… Back then Albus considered it hell on earth, but it paled in comparison to the future…

He eventually found Gellert and tried to talk sense into him, but Gellert had gone from talking about the greater good to talking about concentration camps, slavery and granting absolute power to one group of people. Albus could not bring himself to kill him. He let him go, reasoning that Gellert should soon understand how utterly unrealistic and absurd his ideas are and return to his senses… Albus checked his friend's mind: he was still sane. And if he started killing, the Aurors would stop him.

Albus's mistake of judgment proved fatal. Gellert found the Elder Wand and began gathering followers. The world had its share of psychos, but none ever wielded so much power…

Albus tried to motivate the masses to resist. After surviving the horrors of World War I and corresponding wizarding conflicts, no one wanted to go back to fighting. Dumbledore became an ostracized loon forecasting ridiculous events. So, he gave up his attempts. They would manage on their own, he was not going to force anyone to join an army.

Many were blind to the horrible power collecting under Grindelwald's wing. Most German wizards supported the participation in war. Violent skirmishes were spreading like first thunder before a devastating storm. With the Elder Wand, complete lack of conscience, love of human sacrifice and twisted imagination finding an outlet in necromancy, Gellert was unstoppable. His skill in necromancy almost matched the legendary Imphotep. Inferi and liches were not a step of his power pyramid, they were its foundation. (And it resulted in necromancers exterminated as a class after the war.)

But when the war finally erupted, Grindelwald made two crucial mistakes. He condemned himself to resource scarcity by going against the entire world and attacked Russia. No one expected the Russians to be so sickly cruel as to use their own citizens as sacrifices. And two waves of human sacrifice crashed into each other… Albus will forever remember the winter of 1941, the "absolute zero" area spell. He personally saw the focal points reach -273.15 C… No wonder they still struggled to quantify the losses. It was a long and horrific conflict…

Now, all Dumbledore wanted to do was live for himself a little. His lab was gathering dust, the school needed renovations, social initiatives and personal projects were put on the back burner. For example, a portable library… Instead, he had to deal with another war.

During the war with Grindelwald, he did not raise an army. It caused many deaths. During the war with Voldemort, he raised an army. It caused many deaths. The twentieth century saw two Dark Lords: one was his friend, the other he personally picked up from an orphanage and taught transfiguration. The universe had a morbid sense of humor…

Albus pulled out a photo of the most trusted members of the Order of the Phoenix. There was a time when he thought it was a good idea to gather talented people under the banner of preventing another Dark wizard from rising to power. But now he doubted himself more than ever: so few survived…

Sirius Black. Who could have imagined him a traitor? Ugly facts trumped the most beautiful hypotheses.

Edgar Bones. Killed by Tom.

Amelina Vance. Perfectly fine, a powerful witch.

Alastor Moody. Time and enemies spared him no mercy, but his sense of humor never ceased to amuse Albus. Only Alastor could come up with the idea to forge muggle papers and receive disability benefits…

Minevra McGonagall. Alive, successfully teaching transfiguration and leading Gryffindor.

Dedalus Diggle. That munchkin in a top hat would outlive them all.

Caradoc Dearborn. Disappeared without a trace. A murky story. Dumbledore has always been against Dark magic, but the disappearance of an Order member hit him hard. What if the young man could still be saved? Albus stepped over his principles and performed a search by blood… The results did not encourage: 58 signals. He personally checked every one. Pieces of the poor wretch had been thrown around the entire England.

Ephias Doge. Old school friend… They never traveled together after graduation like they planned, but now Abus too met a chimera.

Frank Longbottom. Killed by Tom.

Alice Longbottom. Killed by Tom.

Remus Lupin. Spying among the werewolves.

Marlene McKinnon. Killed by Tom.

Dorcas Meadowes. Killed by Tom.

Peter Pettigrew. Alive and working. Received an Order of Merlin. Albus personally checked him after the victory over Black- everything was clear.

Sturgis Podmore. Successfully working for the DMLE.

James Potter. Killed by Tom.

Lily Potter. Killed by Tom. Albus found fragments of James's, Alice's and Frank's bodies in France. Tom probably did not bother with a muggleborn. Just in case, Albus searched for her by blood - no signal.

Gideon and Fabian Prewett. Killed by Tom. And they were tougher than the Longbottoms…

Benjy Fenwick. Killed.

Arabella Figg. No one paid attention to squibs, and she was a good source of information.

Rubeus Hagrid. Most likely killed. Search by blood remained silent.

Mundungus Fletcher. A small-time thief, but even he was useful.

And the new guard:

Kingsley Shacklebolt. A very talented hitwizard who will grow into another Moody. If he survives long enough.

Angelica Peters. One of Horace's best students.

Arthur and Molly Weasley. How were they not afraid to join the fight with this many children?

Robert Arbogast. A French ex-mercenary. Moved to England to play vigilante after his group was destroyed, ended up arrested due to his somewhat… questionable arsenal. The Aurors released him into Dumbledore's custody. A battle-trained wizard working as a groundskeeper for ten galleons a month was a good investment… Albus reminded himself to check the man's report about acromantulas disappearing from the forest. Robert insisted they must have joined Voldemort. He would have made a perfect drinking buddy for Alastor, but neither of them drank because of "constant vigilance."

A few more years at this pace, and Albus would end up alone… Maybe he should listen to Alastor? Take a strike team with Fawkes and break into neutral pureblood homes. Restrain everyone and search for evidence.. If none were found, they had enough apologies to go around.

Or another one of Moody's genius plans: find the strongest time-turner at the Department of Mysteries and go back to the 30s to kill Grindelwald and Tom Riddle… Albus would correct it: travel to 1880s to prevent Ariana's illness. Or farther back and stop the Peverells from creating the Hallows, especially the wand… Or to the first century BCE and stop Herpo the Foul from inventing horcruxes… Or… Enough.

Games with time never ended well. Ever. Using a time-turner for extra study time was one thing. Changing something important always led to a worse outcome. All Unspeakables knew this axiom. If Albus used a time-turner for those goals, he might create a world that was conquered by Dark Lord Dumbledore whose childhood missed an inoculation against pride. Or an insane Dark wizard Dumbledore ritually killed Ariana in an attempt to understand the Veil of Death…

In truth, this was a problem of all powerful wizards: they thought themselves gods or at least the top of the pyramid.

It was time to stop wallowing in sadness, Albus decided. He had to watch Snape's memories and test them for authenticity.

Unfortunately, they were all true…

The Dark Lord's student survived. It was stupid to suspect Crouch, but he was the only reason Albus did not come to Diagon and did not send any Orderers. Albus had to investigate. He did not condone searches without the Order's presence, but Crouch… Even if he was guilty, that trial could outlast Flamel… And they in were the thick of war, people were dying…

With a careless swish of his wand, Albus turned invisible. After thinking a bit, he opened his safe and took out that invisibility cloak. Absolute concealment from all magical detection… And pressure on the ground was easy to remove with self-levitation. He could do anything, even rob Gringotts- nothing short of bumping into something would reveal him.

Only Fawkes felt him through the soul connection. Albus called on his familiar and disappeared in a flame. The Founders truly deserved their legends- Hogwarts wards blocked absolutely everyone and everything from apparating without the Headmaster's authorization.

Albus left his phoenix at home and apparated to Crouch's house. Still perfectly invisible, he cautiously passed through the wards with a few waves of the Elder Wand. Crouch and his son were out, but Albus saw Crouch's wife. The diagnosis was clear as day: Cordner-Verner syndrome. No cure, not even the Elixir of Life… Only Dark magic. Now her hermit lifestyle made sense.

Taking great care to avoid the wards, guards and house elves, Albus examined the area. He reminded himself of an octopus that spread tentacles in every direction, tentacles that were thinner than a strand of hair but more sensitive than the tip of the tongue… And he found something. A number of Dark ritual descriptions written without magic. Very clever. Most wizards searched magically, to think anyone would sketch a lich-raising circle in the middle of a muggle porn magazine…

Maybe it was a coincidence? Crouch didn't know? Albus started searching more thoroughly. Deep transe.. Everything was clear. Deeper… Still clear. Although, maybe not… Surely no one except him and maybe Tom would sense it, and only from within the wards…

Albus really did not want to do this… But he had no other way to fully scan the area without losing concealment. Breathe in, breathe out… Begin… Partial entrance into the astral plane.

The human mind was completely unadapted for this. No, it was not Dark magic. And it was not difficult. But keeping what you saw at bay was hard. The smallest misstep - and the peculiar view of the world would stay forever. Albus warned the Lovegoods, but they just had to experiment…

The outer ward edge was touching something else. Something underground. Deep under the house sat a network of caverns radiating magic. Albus felt several humans and very distinct Dark magic defenses. Entering would raise an alarm - his tricks won't fool an Antipatronus or a Dementor. But he did scan the surface level. A makeshift ritual hall set up for curing Mrs. Crouch.

So, Crouch was either a complete idiot or at least an accomplice of Voldemort. Otherwise, Tom would simply blow up the manor… Of course, there was always a possibility that Tom wanted to sic them on each other. Or Crouch's wife was the one at fault. Or his son. Or a guard. Or a house elf. In muggle films, it was always the butler's or gardener's fault… Unable to resist any longer, Albus felt his thoughts scramble…

Or a cat… He needed a better mental circumference. A tetrahedron of senses. A dodecahedron of honesty. An icosahedron of time… Everything was the wrakspurts' fault! Although, the cat was also a decent idea. Albus was great at transfiguration. He should transfigure himself into a cat that will slo-o-o-o-owly-y-y apparate like the Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland. And make sure to stretch the smile as big as possible…

It was time to finish this. Summon up all the will. He did not want to think about it. He did not want to see it. No, he was not interested in new colors. No, he did not want to know any of that. He was Albus Dumbledore, England's last hope to defeat Voldemort.

Albus was drenched in sweat. Violent shivers shook his body. But the world returned to normal. He partially transfigured himself and silently flew out of the house through an open window.

He was soon back in his Hogwarts office, thinking. There was only one solution: talking to Crouch. With legilimency. And Veritaserum. Together with all his family. In court. If they were framed, the trial would uncover it. If not, the guilty would go to Azkaban.

Albus had to prepare. Get in touch with some foreign friends. He could put together an international committee in record time and conduct a search on ICW authority. Moody and the Order would stand guard. All of the Order, not just those in the photo. His golems would cover them. Albus loved transfiguring in his free time and had built up quite a stock.. And he should do a little shopping with the members' donations and his own money. Albus did not have much other use for the salaries from his many posts…

After sending out the letters, Dumbledore apparated to the Forbidden Forest by phoenix. The acromantula nest was empty… A couple of small spiders scurrying around received stunning charms. Technically, legilimency on a magical creature was not the best idea.. But these acromantulas were no larger than an average dog, he could handle it..

So, the leader Aragog was dead along with his wife. The new leader Morgul took the group somewhere beyond the forest. Less than a dozen little ones remained and were trying to reestablish the nest. But they were very unlikely to succeed: the rest of the forest's inhabitants harbored a lot of hate for the spiders and would hunt them down.

Acromantulas at Tom's service… Albus was sure Aragog would never allow it. Hagrid swore it. Albus had been meaning to move the spiders to their native Borneo but always put it off… Organizing a transcontinental portkey for hundreds of XXXXX-class creatures was such a hassle… Not even mentioning the inevitable question of where he got the spiders. And who would accept them other than for ingredients? Send them somewhere in secret? It would, at the very least, constitute a terrorist act, if not a declaration of war-

Suddenly, Albus felt a signal that flooded him with dread. He disappeared in Fawkes' flame and reappeared in Aberforth's house. Empty. Scanning charms. Empty. A message through Fawkes feather. No answer. Patronus could not find the recepient. Perhaps his brother was in a highly warded place… He should thoroughly search the house… Nothing unusual. Although… There was an open liquor bottle.

The way that bottle concealed its contents would earn an instant mastery in artefactorics. Tens of thousands of galleons for a copy of Aberforth favorite whiskey that cost at most ten… The analysis of its contents showed traces of the potion "Call of the Dead." Albus bitterly remembered all the times he admonished his brother for drinking straight from the bottle. A glass could never be charmed so thoroughly…

Another phoenix apparition. Aberforth's whiskey suppliers were alive but under Confundus. After calling in some of the Order to take care of them, Albus sat down to meditate. A long time ago, when Ariana was still alive and blood magic was still legal, he made locator artifacts for every member of his family. His sister's and mother's pendants shattered at the moment of their death. The signal he received said Aberforth's pendant was removed from his body… Had he really been captured by Death Eaters?

Following the signal, Albus quickly found the place where the pendant was removed. He found the melted artifact in the ashes of an ordinary muggle house… But the stone within was unharmed, so his brother still lived.

How did they get to him? Call of the Dead, classified as a Dark potion. Albus had to jog his memory… Causes targeted hallucinations. Ingredients… Pieces of dead relatives. Best of all, mother.

Another flash of flame, and Albus was standing at the Godric's Hollow cemetery. He approached his mother's and sister's graves. Everything looked normal.. No, not normal. In magical sight, the graves appeared recently disturbed. Already knowing what he would see, Albus used the Rontgen charm. The caskets were empty.

Suppressing a scream of fury bursting out of his chest, he apparated back to his office and chugged a glass of whiskey.

When Albus was young, he did not want to die. He wanted to live forever. No, he would never kill anyone for it. The Hallows were an appealing idea. The Sorting Hat had good reasons to spend so much time on his head before telling him he belonged in all four houses and offering him to make his own choice. Back then, he was very vain. He told the Hat he would succeed anywhere on his own. The Hat replied that such confidence and bluntness was worthy of Gryffindor.

Then his mother died, and Albus took a deep interest in resurrecting the dead. Restoring the body and returning the soul.. It was a false hope. Only the Resurrection Stone could bring back a soul, but where to search for it? Of course, he now had two out of three… One more, and he will become the omnipotent master of death…

No, he must banish these thoughts even from the edge of his mind. Otherwise, before he knew it, he would begin endorsing selective use of force. Then collateral damage. Then necessary sacrifices. All for the greater good, of course! Everything will be worth it! And there you have it, another ready-made Grindelwald who believes one can't make an omelet without breaking a few eggs… This was not Albus's way.

When his sister died… It was a very wrong thing to say, but she meant more for him than the rest of his family put together. Albus thought, what if he one day found the Resurrection Stone? Ariana should not live as a rotten corpse. Using someone else's body was disgusting. He could grow another… but creating homunculi was illegal. Preserving the body seemed only natural: not Dark magic, completely legal. And now Ariana could wait until he found the Stone.

And when Albus let go of that ambition… A preserved body was not hurting anything. A lich? Are you insane, Gellert was dead, there will be no more Dark Lords. Tom Riddle began recruiting an army? Tom was not interested in the past. And how could anyone raise a lich from such an old body? Tom Riddle was no Imhotep.

But now Albus was not so sure. A body of an Obscurial could be used for something… He had to warn everyone. Have them learn the spells hitwizards used to take down that Obscurial in New York…

An owl frying through his window interrupted his thoughts. Albus checked the letter. It was redundant, really: the wards would never let anything dangerous through..

Barkeep Tom from the Leaky Cauldron wrote that he met Voldemort and Death Eaters. He received a round of Cruciatus and a curse that would kill him unless Albus comes and removes it personally. He also had a message: Voldemort is offering peace to Albus Dumbledore.

At that, Albus began checking himself for mental influences for the fifth time in one day. But it turned out to be a simple offer to divide the magical Britain into two states. Scotland with Hogwarts to Dumbledore, the Ministry and Stonehenge (England, Wales, Ireland) to Voldemort. Separate states, separate politics. Tom was willing to give him all the muggleborns born in his territory and stay out of Albus's internal affairs.

And there was the hook, written under Tom's dictation: " Like the magic of frost and fire uniting in the famed spell, we can achieve great things together. We can bring your family back from the dead. I have not harmed your brother and am prepared to return him immediately. If you agree, mention the name Elizabeth Mitchell at tomorrow's Wizengamot meeting. "

No thanks. Grindelwald already tried that. Albus pitied his brother and would try to save him, but not at the cost of collaborating with Tom. That agreement would not be worth the paper it is written on. And if the impossible happened and Tom followed through, then Albus's death would put the entire magical Britain right into Tom's hands.

He had to heal the bartender, then open his safe and refresh some memories. Do some reading…

Albus Dumbledore never purposefully killed his opponents. But Tom more than earned an exception. Of course, murder mutilated the soul… But if Albus killed Voldemort, it didn't mean he would turn around and kill McGonagall! Imprisoning Tom was useless. First of all, Tom would outlive any prison. Second, he would never return to normal: even one horcrux brought irreversible changes. And Dumbledore did not believe Tom was capable of remorse. But "killing" Tom before destroying his anchors was pointless as well… If he failed to capture Tom or temporarily imprison him, the only option was to disembody him, then extinguish the fires of this civil war and go search for the horcruxes… No one has seen Tom's snake for a while, did he make it into another horcrux?

Dumbledore apparated to Diagon. The barkeep was indeed cursed but with nothing immediately lethal. His memories were genuine: Tom and five masked figures in the background. While Albus was healing the barkeep, he pondered what he should use to take Tom down. He had some ideas, but if none of them helped… No, not Dark magic. Dimensional. With the Elder Wand on his side, Albus should be able to turn the disembodiment ritual into a spell. It was usually performed by five wizards on an immobilized target, but Abus will manage.

Fawkes dropped him off in front of Moody's house. This was one house he would never apparate inside, no matter how uncomfortable it was to stand in a circle of explosive runes at the entrance. Albus's defenses could handle it, but Moody insisted everyone entered his home in this manner.

"Who are you?" Alastor asked, pointing his wand at Albus.

"It's me, Albus." Here we go…

"What did we do in Transylvania?" Alastor began his test.

"You have never been to Transylvania."

"What were the last words you heard me say?"

"Kick Snape's greasy ass to the curb, he will betray us all," recited Albus with a sigh.

"What time is it?"

Albus looked at his watch. It was 3:45 in the morning.

"Ten till four," Albus said. This was their agreement. He calls the time five minutes ahead to prove he is Albus or gets an Avada in the face. Albus tried to argue for a stunner, but Moody was unbending: if someone was able to expertly disguise themselves as Albus, it must be Voldemort. Only Avadas. It was such a hassle to charm the watch to be unbreakable, connected to Moody's watch and always showing the exact same time without radiating magic…

"Happy to see you, friend. What brings you here? If you want to lecture me for burying muggle mines around the house and eating the map when Kingsley asked for their locations…"

"No. Not that. Voldemort kidnapped my brother."

"May he rest In peace. We will avenge him. They will pay for everything, they will all rot in Azkaban! No, Azkaban will long rot away, and they will continue rotting in the next prison! Maybe you, I, Kingsley, Podmore and McGonagall should take a tour of the manors of so-called "neutral purebloods"? I am sure the Bullstrodes serve Voldemort! They just haven't been caught yet! Wait a moment while I transfigure us some more explosives…"

"No, Alastor. They are innocent until proven guilty. And even if we win against Voldemort with these methods, we will be simply taking his place. One dictatorship replacing another. Get everyone ready. Every single person we have. Practice spells against acromantulas, obscuri and undead. We may have to storm Crouch's manor."

"Why him? He would throw his own son in Azkaban!"

"Maybe his son, but apparently not his wife. Listen to what I discovered…"