Protection: The Sword and the Shield

Oops, Did I Do That

......Office of the Headmaster, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

The room was a mess. Papers were strewn everywhere and the floor was littered with unidentifiable trinkets and doodads of little known, but obviously magical, purpose. There was even some evidence of spell fire on the stone walls. Most telling was that none of the portraits of previous headmasters were currently occupied. Luckily the frames were protected by the schools magic and with the recent upgrade to the ward stone and ward scheme that meant they were practically indestructible.

A temper tantrum within the office of the headmaster of Hogwarts was not historically significant. Over the centuries the school had hosted men and women of diverse personalities that existed all along the spectrum of light and dark magic use. Most of the portraits that had achieved the honor of being placed in the headmaster's office represented former heads who themselves caused more damage than was apparent in this moment.

What was significant was the person at the center of this particular outburst of anger and frustration. The current headmaster was considered a light sided mage who was famous for, among other things, his seemingly unwavering calm and cheerfulness. That he had cracked to such a degree would have been the biggest story to hit wizarding Britain since the return of the Boy-Who-Lived.

No one would know, of course, as the man would never allow the world to know of his slip in control. That it was the Boy-Who-Lived who had inspired the loss of control was an irony that the man sitting at the desk would not recognize. Albus Dumbledore sat at his desk using occlumency exercises to calm his mind. It was something he had only rarely ever had to do and his frustration at being forced to do them was making it more difficult.

The term had finally ended three days previously and he had only just made it through the end of term staff meeting. He had kept his calm and maintained his reputation, what was left of it, till everyone had well and truly left before he had exploded in anger. His aura flared and his magic started to create chaos in the room around him. The paintings had emptied at that point and missed him drawing his wand and shooting blasting curses everywhere.

The outward manifestation of his anger only lasted ten minutes but he had spent the following days calming the turmoil in his own mind. Albus Dumbledore took a deep breath and opened his eyes. The weeks after the incident in the chamber had been difficult for him and most of his internal turmoil was due to him still being unsure as to what was going on.

It had all started with his first decision. He had known that he needed to either gain possession of the book or have it destroyed. He had thought it was of the utmost importance. It had taken all night and cost him the ability to influence the cases against Lucius Malfoy and Minister Fudge or even become fully aware of their arrests, but in the end he had gotten the book and left everyone with the impression that it had been destroyed. He had thought himself so clever.

It did not take him long to confirm, for himself, what the book was. What had rattled him at the time was why the book had been used. If Tom had returned, like he had suspected, why expose one of his protections in such a way. All these weeks later he was still unsure, but it looked as if Tom had not returned and it was likely one of his followers that had attacked the Flamel's. If they had gotten the stone as was clear, why had they not used it to revive their Lord?

The only conclusion he had been able to make and the one he continued to have was that Tom had failed due to greed. Whichever follower he had trusted to steal the stone and kill the Flamels had been seduced by the power of the stone, as he had been, and decided to keep it for himself. It was an unsatisfying conclusion as it left too many unanswered questions but the other events of the last month had preoccupied the headmaster too much to really examine it.