Thanks To A Snake

Chapter 8

Albus Dumbledore sat in his office stroking his beard contemplating the coming year. 'Harry Potter the boy-who-lived will come to Hogwarts this year, and I can start molding him to be the perfect little pawn. The Dursely's treatment of the boy should make him perfectly open to all things magic, and more importantly myself, the grandfather they all love.' Albus thought smiling sardonically to himself.

Dumbledore opened a drawer in his office and pulled out a picture of young man, the man in the photo appeared to be dressed in an early Victorian era suit. The young man in the picture was very handsome and waved in the photograph. 'Ohh Gellert, if only you hadn't cast that spell we could have continued with our plans for the world.' Dumbledore placed the photo back into the desk, and thought of where he was now with his plans. He has subtly influenced the people of magical Britain to rely on him after he showed his power in defeating Gellert, he held the elder wand, and he presented an image of Merlin that no one doubted. He smiled to himself as he thought of the times he denied the position of Minister of Magic, with that he had the light families practically eating out of his hands. The boy would fit nicely into his plans, the Potter boy would take the fall and then he would clean up the mess and once again hold sway in the wizarding world. 'The boy could have too much influence in the world without me to guide him.' Dumbledore in all his plotting failed to notice Fawkes trill sadly in the background.

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'Damn idiotic boy got sorted into Slytherin, now Severus is going to befriend him now, damn I thought the Potter genes would win out. Damn Dursley's must have pushed it too far. Damn, Damn, Damn, I need to get the boy on my side. Thankfully that fool Quierrel is indeed possessed, Tom will seek out Harry I will use that and the mirror.'

'The boy got a gouging spell to work at eleven, not even I could do that!' Dumbledore thought as he flew into his office in a rage. 'And he has snake as a familiar. I'll watch him more closely as the year continues, I may have to push him down the same path I did Tom. Tom was easier though, he already hated people.'

'Damn I've lost Severus and I can't even turn him as I vouched for him during the war. Luckily the boy found Fluffy, ridiculous name, but now he should be intrigued. Now for a way to slip him information about the stone, hmm, perhaps the Weasley boy, he has a loud mouth, time to use it.'

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'Yes, Yes, Yes!' Dumbledore thought while doing a happy dance in his office. 'The boy went after the stone. Though his friends prove less then desirable and Severus saved him, not me, but I can work with that. Although he doesn't seem to like me and I made it worse by calling him my boy. No matter soon enough he will be.'

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'Goblins, worthless little creatures what do they want? They already refused to hand over the Potter fortune, what do they want now?' Dumbledore, dressed in his bright yellow robes and a floppy wizard hat, walked into Gringotts.

"I have a meeting with Ragnok." He spoke with the twinkle in his eyes.

"That's manager Ragnok, human. Follow me." The goblin teller spat out. The teller led Dumbledore into Ragnok's office, and left him there with a smirk that caused Dumbledore to shiver.

"Ah Dumbledore, did you really think you could outsmart us goblins when it comes to money? You are despicable, stealing from an orphan! were you a goblin I would have you killed."

Dumbledore pulled his wand. "Well luckily I'm not a goblin. You cannot do anything to me."

Ragnok laughed, a truly frightening sight, and four Goblin warriors appeared behind Dumbledore. One went for his wand arm, while another took his sword and used the flat part of it, and forced the old wizard to his knees. The others held Dumbledore, forcing his head and chest to be pressed against Ragnok's desk.

Ragnock spoke. "You may not be a goblin, but you are still under our laws when you steal from our client. Therefore, as Manager of Gringotts and head of the Goblins, I pronounce you guilty of theft! The punishment for which is the loss of a hand and the forfeit of your accounts." With that one of the Goblins took his ax and chopped Dumbledore's left hand off.

"AHHHHHHHHHHH!" Dumbledore screamed as the stump of his arm gushed blood, his hand falling to the ground. Blood started pooling on Ragnok's floor.

Ragnok snapped his fingers, and the blood stopped gushing out and the wound sealed over, preventing Dumbledore from having it re-grown. The blood on the floor disappeared as did Dumbledore's misplaced hand. "Oh really it's not that bad." Ragnok said and motioned to the Goblins to take Dumbledore out. The Goblin warriors dumped Dumbledore on the front steps of Gringotts. Dumbledore quickly apperated out and back to his office.

"Fucking Goblins!" Dumbledore growled out as he appeared in his rooms at the castle. He quickly took a pain potion and conjured an inflated glove to wear where his left hand should be. He never found out until it was too late to stop the trail of Sirius Black. In fact, when he found out Sirius was already at Potter Manor with his godson.

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Dumbledore grumbled to himself after giving the Defense Against the Dark Arts to Gilderoy Lockhart. "At least this is one more year they will have an incompetent teacher." He rubbed his arm when his hand was supposed to be, he couldn't bring charges against the goblins without ruining his own reputation. Instead he was plotting ways to destroy Ragnok subtly. While he was plotting against both Harry, the muggle world, and Ragnok, Fawkes trilled in mourning and disappeared from Dumbledore's office in a flash. Dumbledore wouldn't even notice until Professor McGonagall pointed out the missing Phoenix.