The Speaker and His Wraiths

That Summer

Harry's Summer Search

Between fourth and fifth year, Harry had been busy. After Cedric died, Harry was thoroughly depressed and traumatized, and decided to go to Dumbledore for help. Dumbledore turned him away, and then never responded to any of his letters again. He said he was safe at the Dursleys, and they would give Harry the support he needed. Liar.

In response, Harry had gotten busy. He saw a strange corridor in his dreams night after night, and decided he'd brushed aside too many important things for it to be a coincidence. He went searching for answers. He asked people in Diagon Alley, he researched in books, he turned it over and over in his head.

So when he finally discovered he was seeing the Ministry of Magic in his dreams, he'd immediately headed over. He didn't know what he was looking for, but he looked anyway. It had felt almost... led, by purpose. Under the Invisibility Cloak, he searched floor after floor of the Ministry of Magic, until he came upon the corridor of his dream. Following the pull inside him, he found a globe with his name on it. A prophecy.

Neither can live while the other survives.

Harry didn't like not knowing things, so he started looking. And then he started realizing.

In first year, he'd already known Dumbledore let him go after Voldemort. Dumbledore told Harry it was his right. His revenge, if you will. Harry had never questioned why.

In second year, Dumbledore hadn't helped Harry solve the almost-murders, and he hadn't done anything despite almost certainly knowing about the basilisk. He hadn't helped Madam Pomfrey find or buy already mature mandrakes, even though he undoubtedly could have found something faster than growing them. He'd just expected Harry to clean it all up, and sent his Phoenix to make sure Harry didn't die completely.

In third year, Dumbledore willingly sent two kids outside with a werewolf on the full moon. He'd told Hermione to go back in time, and they could've been killed (or worse, Turned) by Lupin! He'd endangered two children, just to secure Sirius' survival and loyalty.

In fourth year, Dumbledore didn't help him get out of the Tournament. He willingly let a fourteen year old participate in a competition for adults. He also didn't advocate for Harry, telling everyone Harry didn't put his name in. No, instead, Dumbledore let Harry be ignored and scorned and accused without any support. Apart from Hermione, of course.

During that summer when he realized it, Harry wasn't so sure he trusted Dumbledore anymore. If he lied and withheld things like the prophecy, what else could he be hiding?

Harry went to Diagon Alley and hunted down a Hogwarts Staff History book. Checking it out, he made a list of all the teachers who worked at Hogwarts while Dumbledore was teaching Transfiguration.

Interviewing them one by one, disguised as best he could be, Harry questioned them about Dumbledore. He was consistently told Dumbledore was an intelligent and powerful wizard that had often accused students of being evil and up to no good. One of them being Tom Riddle himself. None of them seemed loyal to Dumbledore.

When he'd encountered Professor Slughorn, Harry had been suspicious of the man not wanting to talk about either of them - Dumbledore nor Tom Riddle. Following up, he pressured the information out of Slughorn saying it was for research purposes. No, he wasn't sent by Dumbledore, yes he was genuinely curious, yes it was for research.

It only got harder from there. Slughorn had known Tom Riddle, had seen his intellectual prowess and his fear of Dumbledore as well as death. The solution?

Horcruxes. Soul sacrificial magic that ripped a person apart, for immortality. Harry had read about it, and immediately returned to Slughorn, asking if it was possible to have a living Horcrux. A person as a vessel. He'd looked nervous, and confirmed it was possible. From there, Harry had known. And he was angry.