Chapter 12: Confrontation

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Everyone inside the Black residence fell silent. Harry's magic continued to affect objects and surroundings, but it was being controlled. No one was being affected by Harry's magic, except for Dumbledore, who felt a slight pressure on his body.

The headmaster and the student looked at each other without looking away, but it was clear that the older eyes showed surprise, even disbelief.

"Harry, I think..." Dumbledore tried to speak, to say something, but stopped immediately. He really had no words. He had been taken by surprise and didn't know what to do exactly, especially with something so delicate and with so many people around.

"What? Do you think we should talk about it quietly in private? Maybe eat a few lemon drops?"

"Don't play with me, old man! Speak now!" Harry exclaimed in a harsh voice.

 "Everyone here gathered because they want to fight that bastard in fear of dying! But you don't tell them anything that is actually useful! You expect them to obey everything that comes out of your mouth, without any explanation or details!"

"Do you even realize how dangerous that is?"

"You're playing with their lives!"

"No, that was never my intention!" Dumbledore exclaimed loudly, perhaps with a volume of voice that no one expected.

 "But you do it unconsciously," Harry said quietly, staring at him for a few seconds in silence before continuing, "You've fought and lived longer than I have, or anyone in this room, so you think you know better, but that's not true."

"The older a person gets, the wiser they can become. But you've become condescending, Dumbledore."

"You think you know what's best for each person."

"You think you know what's best for each thing..."

"You think you know what's best for the world! But you know nothing!"

The rest of them froze in their positions, watching and listening to the argument between Harry and Dumbledore. They couldn't believe the way Harry was talking, mostly because every word seemed to carry a weight behind them, plus they could practically feel Harry's magic rubbing against their skin.

 "Harry, I don't know what caused this," Dumbledore exhaled through his nose as he gripped the wand in his hand tighter, "But I really don't want anyone to get hurt. In fact, it's the opposite, I want it all to end, for the people of this magical society to stop feeling afraid."

Harry gritted his teeth as his eyes widened a little more. His wand moved upwards, as if it were cutting.

Dumbledore's eyes widened slightly in fright as he felt something and moved to the side, seeing that the floor had been cut, as well as the wall behind him.

"That's the bloody problem! Can't you see it?!" Harry shouted, showing his anger.

"People aren't afraid!" Harry waved his wand once more, shooting a ribbon of fire that Dumbledore deflected with a flick of his own wand, before sending a Stunning Charm towards Harry.

 Surprisingly, Harry simply waved his hand and sent the spell aside, causing the red light that had been fired to crackle and fade into the ground.

"No one outside this damn place knows that Voldemort is back! No one believes it, Dumbledore!"

"Everyone outside this house sleeps without fear! Everyone expects the famous boy-who-lived to take care of their problems! Every damn person expects the great Dumbledore to solve all their problems!"

"You won't let them realize the truth in this situation!"

"You are not their leader!"

"You're not his bloody protector!"

Harry breathed heavily as he calmed down a bit. Dumbledore looked at him with wide eyes, surprised by every word that came out of Harry's mouth and reached his ears.

"I wasn't sure, Harry!" Dumbledore said forcefully, but his gaze was much softer, sadder and more desolate.

"I... I didn't want you to have..."

"False hopes?" Harry interrupted him and snorted.

"And there you are again, thinking you know what's best for me. In the end it would be my decision, not yours."

"I spent days... weeks dreaming about Cedric's death! I was worried about what could happen! And when I had to destroy that thing inside my head it only made me angrier because you didn't tell me anything!"

 "Destroyed? Harry... you... you mean..." Dumbledore stepped forward, looking more closely at Harry's scar, which was barely visible at the moment.

"Yes. I destroyed it. I crushed it, crushed it, and completely annihilated it. It was so weak that I simply had to use my magic and overload it."

"No thanks to you, of course."

"That's good... very good..." Dumbledore's shoulders slumped a little as he looked at Harry. He felt completely relieved. And although he didn't know that was possible, it was clear that Harry was still him.

Harry narrowed his eyes before he used quick legilimency. He didn't enter Dumbledore's deepest memories, he simply scanned his current emotions, and that was merely for a few moments before the headmaster sensed it and repelled it, once again shocked.

This was the true purpose of Harry's words, to shock and stir Dumbledore's mind a little. Ever since he received those memories, he knew that Dumbledore suspected and was almost certain that he was a Horcrux, especially because of the pain he had felt when Voldemort was around. Now he knew that Dumbledore had not had bad intentions and had never treated him as something he could sacrifice to finish Voldemort once and for all.

In fact, he could see for a second that the director had tried to find some solution.

"Eh, so it seems I can trust you," was what Harry said after entering Dumbledore's mind for a few moments.

"How do you know so much magic? That's not something someone so young can use. Even when taught to a child, it would still take years to achieve something as good as what you did."

Harry closed his eyes for a moment as he relaxed his magic and his body, his wand disappeared into his sleeve and he smiled.

 "The Horcrux had memories of Voldemort. Some spells and mind magic, memories of his childhood and also Hogwarts," letting out a sigh, Harry raised his hands slightly.

"I just had to know if I could really trust you, Headmaster. I'm sorry if I made you feel bad, but you should know that having seen and learned so much, doubt is only natural."

Dumbledore's eyes widened for a second before returning to normal.

"So, this... you did it just to see if you could trust me?"

Harry nodded before he walked over to a couch and carelessly threw himself down.

"I'm sorry you guys too, I probably scared you," Harry apologized to the rest of the order, who now seemed more relaxed. Hermione let out a breath of air she didn't know she was holding and Ron simply sat down on a chair.

 "Did you really have to do it that way?!" Hermione exclaimed angrily as she approached Harry with heavy steps.

"As I said, I'm sorry. Saying those things was the only way I could see the headmaster's emotions and be able to trust him," Harry sighed a little as he shook his hair a bit.

"It's okay, Miss Granger," Dumbledore interrupted her. "Now I understand Harry's reasons better."

"But...", he looked at everyone and they still seemed a little affected. "It seems that any conversation will have to wait until tomorrow"

"I think that is for the best," Sirius nodded, but looked at Harry not knowing whether to feel proud or perhaps a little angry with him for how dangerous everything had been.

"Yes. But I want to ask a question, Harry"

"Of course"

"Do you have anything to do with the attacks on certain people's residences?"

"What?", Harry looked at him totally confused as he sat up straighter. "What attacks are you talking about?"

"Harry, it seems that they attacked the homes of the people who had been presumed to be Death Eaters in the first war, and also those who managed to escape from prison under the Imperius excuse"

"Their houses were blown up, but none of them were home at the time. However, as the Aurors responded immediately, some disturbing things were found in those places," Hermione was the one to report this, looking at Harry seriously and a little afraid. It seems they had found some pretty serious stuff if Hermione was scared, was what Harry thought.

Harry looked Dumbledore straight in the eyes and said, "I swear I had nothing to do with this. Even with what I've learned, I can't blow up that many buildings."

Dumbledore held his gaze for a few seconds before nodding.

"Fine, I believe you Harry."

"Thank you."

"Though I hope you don't do things like send a letter to Voldemort again."

"Oh, about that... Well, I had Dobby, so they couldn't really track me. The little guy knows Malfoy Manor like the back of his hand, so it wasn't hard to do that."

Sirius walked over as the rest of them wandered off throughout the house, relaxing after what had happened.

"Harry... your letters... how much of it was true?" Sirius asked curiously.

Hermione, who had been about to retreat to the piano room of the house, stopped at that question. She turned and looked at Harry intently.

Rubbing his chin a bit, Harry replied, "Well, except for the thing with the neighbor, it was all true. I learned to play the piano, I went to a concert. Ah, Dudley actually had a crush and got rejected, which was fun and annoying at the same time."

"Oh..." Sirius looked a bit disappointed.

Harry raised his eyebrows at that.

"Don't tell me you're actually disappointed that I didn't have sex with my neighbor."

"Hey, I was just hoping to give you some advice! You might not believe it, but I was kind of popular with the girls when I was a student at Hogwarts."

Harry simply rolled his eyes before punching his godfather's shoulder.

 "Instead of giving me advice, you should start thinking about getting a woman for yourself, Sirius. You're a bit old now, and I think you should think about getting married."

"In case you haven't noticed, I'm a wanted criminal."

"For now...", Harry laughed enigmatically, scaring Sirius a little. That laugh was too similar to James's when he was about to make a huge joke.

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