The Old Chessmaster! Part-1

{3rd Floor Corridor, Hogwarts, Scotland}

{01:58 PM, 11th Jan 1992}

"Why are you testing him?" Harry's question stopped Dumbledore in his tracks, he knew that Harry wasn't a normal kid but a spy, a spy at the level of elite SHIELD agents so it didn't surprise him that Harry would have figured some of his plans out. What he didn't expect was to be asked that question point-blank, many would hide the fact and investigate what he was up to or respect his decisions and back off.

"What do you mean, m-, Harry" Dumbledore stopped himself from calling Harry 'my boy'.

He watched the boy's eyes narrow, he was looking him straight in his eyes, those obsidian orbs shining with intelligence as he was trying to piece together whatever he was.

"You are testing Charlus, or at least planning to, but not just him, his choice in friends, how he reacts to situations, you were testing his desires and his heart back on Christmas..." Harry spoke his eyes revealing that he was making different connections between the obstacles and everything else.

"But Why, that's the question, why would the headmaster of Hogwarts be interested in the Boy-Who-Lived... there is no reason for you to need him by your side, you have enough political influence on your own and you are powerful enough that you don't need soldiers... Maybe the Potter family could be a factor but Charlus is just 11, there should be no reason to test his Loyalty yet, he hasn't been in contact with anything nefarious..." Dumbledore watched fascinated as Harry tried to piece everything together, and dare he say, if he had a sprinkle of information about the piece of soul resting in Charlus's head then he would easily make the guess.

Dumbledore was worried if what he had understood from the Diary was true then Charlus Potter was a living Horcrux. (AN: I know the Diary was supposed to be released in the Second year but continue, there is a reason for it, I'll explain...)

Dumbledore remembered the Diary, it had appeared carried by a muggleborn into Hogwarts, now a dark artifact such as that should have easily been detected by the wards but somehow it didn't and he was unaware of what happened until the 2nd year Gryffindor Muggleborn was found petrified outside the same bathroom where Myrtle Elizabeth Warren was found dead decades ago, he immediately had scanned the crowd and found out that a first-year Slytherin looked to be a bit drained than normal. A house-elf was immediately assigned to watch over him and when he got the news of a Diary that could write back, a quick confundus made Terence Higgs believe that the Diary was burnt in a fire while he then spent the next few days studying the thing.

'Horcrux...' Dumbledore's thoughts lingered on the word as he listened to Harry theorizing, that the only reason he had made this maze/puzzle was to test how Charlus would react in different situations, how would he react when he had to leave a friend behind in the chess room, how he would react to facing an adversity alone in the final room. He wanted to know if the Horcrux in his head could influence him in anyway, and the only way to know that was in serious situations...

Fawkes returned with a bright flame and chirped, Dumbledore felt hope flare in his chest once again as he turned to Harry and said, "All in due time Harry, let's first get out of here..."

As Dumbledore arrived in his office after Harry he looked at Harry scanning Charlus discreetly, his eyes had a hint of wariness in them, it wasn't what he had predicted but Dumbledore could guess what an active mind could theorize when left alone.

"Charlus, why don't you go back and let me talk to Harry here alone, we have some things to discuss.." Charlus immediately protested, "It wasn't Harry's fault Professor, I told him about Fluffy, and then..." before he could continue Dumbledore assured him, "Don't worry my boy, Harry isn't in any trouble, I just have a few things to discuss with him that a few professor's brought up, this just provides me with a valid excuse."

Charlus hesitated for he bit before he nodded and left the office after giving a nod to his twin, he watched as Harry's eyes followed the twin before he turned to face Dumbledore with a blank face.

Dumbledore could see the gears still turning in his head so he simply asked, "What conclusion have you reached?" he was a little curious about the boy, "That you are worried that a part of Voldemort somehow managed to merge with Charlus that night..." Dumbledore tried very hard to control his facial expressions, it would not dwell well to give anything away. But it still astonished him as to how close the Potter twin reached even though his wording was a little off.

"And how did you reach that conclusion?" Dumbledore asked.

Harry stared at the old wizard for a second before he shrugged and explained, "It's the kind of test you have prepared for him, like you are trying to differentiate between if he's good or bad, the first room and the second room are for appearance sake, his friendship with Hagrid would somehow enable him to start the test while the second room is to lull them into believing that it is indeed an obstacle that you have designed to stop an intruder from stealing whatever the thief 'that managed to enter a Gringotts vault' wanted to."

Harry stopped for a second, "the second room was too easy and also would give them the confidence to continue as would the 3rd room, it was specially meant for Charlus to believe he was doing the right job, and it was his job to do it... hmm let's see the fourth room, with four blank spaces where his ducklings would fit, Ron the Chessmaster would be given the reigns, while Neville, Charlus and Hermione also act as pieces on the board... considering that it was a chessboard and the wizard's chess contains a heavy amount of gore, sacrifices must be necessary which was the final test that proved you wanted to know his personality in a high-pressure situation..."

Dumbledore stared at Harry as the other stared right back, an impasse was reached which Dumbledore broke by asking, "But why Voldemort and soul Merging?"