The Potter Clan's Vengeance

Chapter 18 : Confrontations with Foe

Chapter 18

Dumbledore awoke harshly, feeling the shock that went through the school's wards and instantly grabbed his wand from his nightdesk. Something had happened to the stone, he could tell that much from the wards themselves but at this point he couldn't tell what. It was still in the castle, that much he knew but a magical schockwave had just rolled over the school. The wards had absorbed the brunt of the impact and had done their job protecting the school but he had to go down there and check on the stone. It had to be safe for his plans to work.

Dumbledore wiped the troll blood of his wand with the end of his bright blue robes and waved his wand casually, the black flames ahead of him bending and contorting to his will. They fought him for a moment or two, their will to live dwarfing the old man's willpower temporarily, but eventually they conceded. The flames went out with a whoosh, throwing up ash and soot around the room that was instantly cleared away with a flick of Dumbledore's wand. The Headmaster or Hogwarts made a long sweeping motion with the Elder Wand and the wall exploded silently, bricks flying out away from him into the room ahead of him, each one smashing upon the cold hard floor and sending soot and dust flying about everywhere. He made one last sweeping motion with the wand and all the dust and soot and fragments of the newly exploded bricks disappeared, leaving behind a room with cracked glass on the floor and an empty mirror frame.

"Fuck," swore Dumbledore under his breath, marching into the room with his wand at his side. Muttering to himself again and again, he performed some long complicated movements with his wand, silently of course, and the shards that lay scattered across the floor floated up into the air and rearranged themselves into the mirror frame like they had not been broken before. Dumbledore looked at himself in the mirror for what must have been the 100th time in the last couple of weeks, but this time, unlike before when he had done so countless times, the figures did not appear. He remained alone, and he knew the Mirror of Erised was gone. It was but a simple mirror.

Turning away, he raised his wand once more and swept the room whilst whirling around, his surrounding glowing a deep blue then changing to a blood red and eventually returning to their previous colour. "Fuck," swore Dumbledore once more his grip on his wand tightening so hard that a normal wand would have splintered, but not the Elder wand. The stone was gone, taken, and someone had walked through all his defences with relative ease. It was out of the castle, otherwise he would have felt its presence through the wards that were erected for the school's protection and his own personal uses. Worse, it had been a student, or a group of students, that had bypassed everything. The magic that lingered in the room was too soft and too fragile to be that of an adult's, and there were several variations to it.

Dumbledore waved his wand and the mirror exploded into nothingness, and he was left standing with his wand in his hand. All his plans down the drain, thwarted by a group of school children. He could still make this work, he assured himself. After all, a fake stone would be all that he'd need to lure out Voldemort. He'd need to ask Quirrel for a new troll however, and Hagrid wasn't going to be happy knowing that Fluffy lay dead on the floor above him. The defenses needed to upped as well, but he could make this work. First things first, how the hell was he going to explain this to Nicholas Flamel?

"Mr Potter," said Professor McGonagall walking into the common room, drawing the attention of everyone present. She very rarely went into there, instead choosing to let her lions enjoy their free time and when she did it it was always for a good reason. "I have been asked by Professor Dumbledore to take you to his office."

"Why Professor?" asked Thomas Potter standing up from his game of Exploding Snap. Unfortunately for him, it was at this moment that the pile decided to explode, and right into his face as well. "Damn it!" he swore slapping his eyebrows to put out the left one that had caught fire.