Catalyst

Chapter 33: Decisions

Dumbledore rarely found himself unsure of what to do. After 160 years even the very many of the more absurd things that could happen had happened to him at least once. But now, sitting in his office across from a boy who had been possessed for years by a being from Merlin knows where, Dumbledore found himself at a complete lack of words. What did one say to a boy who had never before been able to answer? Fortunately, Thenabar that broke the silence.

"At what point are you going to kill me?"

The words shook Dumbledore. The boy actually believed that he was going to be killed.

"I'm not going to kill you, Thenabar." Dumbledore said kindly.

"Yes, you will. You're either going to demand my subservience or kill me, and I won't serve you. So you'll kill me," Thenabar replied. Oddly enough, there was no venom in his tone, just a quiet resignation.

"And what makes you think that?"

"You're human. I'm not. What else would you do?" Thenabar asked, before coughing. "Is my throat supposed to be this dry when I talk?"

"Have you not talked before?"

The child looked almost embarrassed at the question, shrinking back into his seat. "No. Abathur did that for me."

That was disturbing, even if it was unfortunately unsurprising. Presumably, this 'Abathur' had been inserted into the boy since before he was even born. Really, it was remarkable that he was even coherent to begin with. Still, this revelation brought up some interesting questions.

"And which of you was it that killed Severus?" Dumbledore asked frankly. He leaned forward with his hands steepled. Any appearance of gentle paternity had vanished, and Dumbledore let sternness replace it. The child in front of him could be innocent of all crimes, the unwilling puppet of another, more malicious mind. Or he could be complicit, already too far gone. Dumbledore did not like to use more drastic methods against children, despised to. But, depending on this answer, he very well might have to.

"Who?" Thenabar replied, with more confusion than remorse.

Dumbledore tried very, very hard to convince himself that the boy said that because of ignorance instead of callousness. "The person who taught you potions for the past 4 years. You may have known him better as Professor Snape."

"Oh," Thenabar said, squirming uncomfortably. "Abathur mostly calls him the incompetent." Dumbledore remained silent, waiting for the boy to answer the question. Although even that answer did not give him a great deal of confidence.

After an awkward silence, Thenabar once again spoke up. "Abathur was the one who killed him. But he used my body to do it!" The boy's voice sounded almost...eager.

"If you had been in control, would you have decided to kill him?" Dumbledore asked, growing a bit worried.

"...I don't know. I'm not used to making decisions," Thenabar responded.

Dumbledore sat back in his chair. How total had Abathur's control over Thenabar been? For that matter, how much control did it have now?

"Thenabar," Dumbledore began. "Is Abathur still making decisions for you, right now?"

"No. He doesn't want to get pushed out again. So now he's just watching," Thenabar said. That was fortunate. If he was honest with himself, Dumbledore doubted he'd be able to win a protracted battle against Abathur. The last time, he had taken it by surprise and robbed it of a chance to respond effectively. At that point, it didn't have any real chance of winning. But it had still managed to fight back with such savagery, such skill, that Dumbledore knew the chances of him even surviving another mental battle with it were poor.