Into The Light (Golden Trio Era) {2}

Kreature's Care

"Yes," Dumbledore gave a nod in agreement, "Yes, but you see- it is necessary to start with your scar. For it became apparent, shortly after you rejoined the magical world, that I was correct, and that your scar was giving you warnings when Voldemort was close to you, or else feeling powerful emotion." "I know," Mikayla watched Harry's eyelids flutter, it reminded her of how tired she was. "And this ability of yours, to detect Voldemort's presence, even when he is disguised, and to know what he is feeling when his emotions are roused has become more and more pronounced in you, Harry since Voldemort returned to his own body and his full powers." Harry didn't respond this time, but his face told them he wasn't being told anything new. "More recently," said Dumbledore, "I became concerned that Voldemort might realize that this connection between you exists. Sure enough, there came a time when you entered so far into his mind and thoughts that he sensed your presence."

"Did either of you ever wonder why it was Professor Snape who explained this to you and not I? Why I did not teach you Occlumency myself? Why I had not so much as looked at you for months?" Mikayla picked up her head and looked at him, her eyes begged her to close them and stay closed. "Yeah," Harry mumbled, "Yeah, I wondered." "You see," Dumbledore sighed deeply, "I believed it could not be long before Voldemort attempted to force his way into your mind, to manipulate and misdirect your thoughts, and I was not eager to give him more incentives to do so. I feared that if he knew just how close we could get, he would seize his chance to use you as a means to spy on me. I feared the uses to which he would put you, the possibility that he might try and possess you, as he did, Harry, in the Atrium. I believe I was right to think that Voldemort would have made use of you in such a way. On those rare occasions when we had close contact, I thought I saw a shadow of him stir behind your eyes... I was trying, in distancing myself from you, to protect you. An old man's mistake . . ." Mikayla looked at Harry, the image of Voldemort's eyes still burned into her mind.

"Voldemort's aim in possessing you, as he demonstrated tonight, would not have been my destruction. It would have been yours. He hoped, when he possessed you briefly a short while ago, that I would sacrifice you in the hope of killing him." Harry's eyes dipped downward, Mikayla watched the sunlight pass through his eyelashes. "Sirius told me that you felt Voldemort awake inside you the very night that you had the vision of Arthur Weasley's attack. I knew at once that my worst fears were correct: Voldemort from that point had realized he could use you. In an attempt to arm you against Voldemort's assaults on your mind, I arranged Occlumency lessons with Professor Snape." Dumbledore paused, Mikayla could hear a faint chirping of birds outside, and the sound of Harry breathing, "Professor Snape discovered, that you had been dreaming about the door to the Department of Mysteries for months. Voldemort, of course, had been obsessed with the possibility of hearing the prophecy ever since he regained his body, and as he dwelled on the door, so did you, though you did not know what it meant. And then you saw Rookwood, who worked in the Department of Mysteries before his arrest, telling Voldemort what we had known all along- that the prophecies held in the Ministry of Magic are heavily protected. Only the people to whom they refer can lift them from the shelves without suffering madness. In this case, either Voldemort himself would have to enter the Ministry of Magic and risk revealing himself at last- or else you would have to take it for him. It became a matter of even greater urgency that you should master Occlumency."

"But I didn't," Harry shook his head, "I didn't practice, I didn't bother, I could've stopped myself having those dreams, Hermione kept telling me to do it, if I had he'd never have been able to show me where to go, and- Sirius wouldn't- Sirius wouldn't -" "Harry..." Mikayla spoke softly, watching the pain grow in his eyes. "I tried to check he'd really taken Sirius," Harry choked out, "I went to Umbridge's office, I spoke to Kreacher in the fire, and he said Sirius wasn't there, he said he'd gone!" "Kreacher lied, you are not his master, he could lie to you without even needing to punish himself. Kreacher intended you to go to the Ministry of Magic." "He- he sent us on purpose?" "Oh yes. Kreacher, I am afraid, has been serving more than one master for months." "How?" Mikayla spoke up, her eyebrows pushed together, "He hasn't been out of Grimmauld Place for years." "Kreacher seized his opportunity shortly before Christmas, when Sirius, apparently, shouted at him to 'get out.' He took Sirius at his word and interpreted this as an order to leave the house. He went to the only Black family member for whom he had any respect left... Black's cousin Narcissa, sister of Bellatrix and wife of Lucius Malfoy." Mikayla shivered angrily at the mention Bellatrix's name.

"How do you know all this?" Harry looked more intrigued than distanced now. "Kreacher told me last night," Dumbledore said. "You see, when you gave Professor Snape that cryptic warning, he realized that you had had a vision of Sirius trapped in the bowels of the Department of Mysteries. He, like you, attempted to contact Sirius at once. I should explain that members of the Order of the Phoenix have more reliable methods of communicating than the fire in Dolores Umbridge's office. Professor Snape found that Sirius was alive and safe in Grimmauld Place. When, however, you did not return from your trip into the forest with Dolores Umbridge, Professor Snape grew worried that you still believed Sirius to be a captive of Lord Voldemort's. He alerted certain Order members at once. Alastor Moody, Nymphadora Tonks, Kingsley Shacklebolt, and Remus Lupin were at headquarters when he made contact. All agreed to go to your aid at once. Professor Snape requested that Sirius remain behind, as he needed somebody to remain at headquarters to tell me what had happened, for I was due there at any moment. In the meantime he, Professor Snape, intended to search the forest for you. But Sirius did not wish to remain behind while the others went to search for you. He delegated to Kreacher the task of telling me what had happened. And so it was that when I arrived in Grimmauld Place shortly after they had all left for the Ministry, it was the elf who told me- laughing fit to burst- where Sirius had gone."

"Someone should have known he would come after us, we're his family, why wouldn't he?" Mikayla questioned, a lump returning to her throat. "That was our fault, no one thought of it in the moment, it was just imminent they got to you in time," Dumbledore spoke softly, cautious to spark emotion in either of the kids. "He was laughing?" Harry said, his face looked distant. "Oh yes," said Dumbledore. "You see, Kreacher was not able to betray us totally. He is not Secret-Keeper for the Order, he could not give the Malfoys our whereabouts or tell them any of the Order's confidential plans that he had been forbidden to reveal. He was bound by the enchantments of his kind, which is to say that he could not disobey a direct order from his master, Sirius. But he gave Narcissa information of the sort that is very valuable to Voldemort, yet must have seemed much too trivial for Sirius to think of banning him from repeating it."

"Like what?" Harry asked. "Like the fact that the people Sirius cared most about in the world was you two, and the fact that you, Harry, were coming to regard Sirius as a mixture of father and brother. Voldemort knew already, of course, that Sirius was in the Order, that you knew where he was- but Kreacher's information made him realize that the one person whom you would go to any lengths to rescue was Sirius Black." A tear made its way out of Mikayla's eye and down her cheek. It burned, but she did not move to wipe it away, she only turned to face the wall so they wouldn't see her upset. "So... when I asked Kreacher if Sirius was there last night..." "The Malfoys- undoubtedly on Voldemort's instructions- had told him he must find a way of keeping Sirius out of the way once you had seen the vision of Sirius being tortured. Then, if you decided to check whether Sirius was at home or not, Kreacher would be able to pretend he was not. Kreacher injured Buckbeak the hippogriff yesterday, and at the moment when you made your appearance in the fire, Sirius was upstairs trying to tend to him."

"And Kreacher told you all this... and laughed?" Harry choked out. "He did not wish to tell me," Dumbledore shook his head. "But I am a sufficiently accomplished Legilimens myself to know when I am being lied to and I- persuaded him- to tell me the full story, before I left for the Department of Mysteries." "And," Harry whispered, something in his voice made the hair on the back of Mikayla's neck stand up as he turned to face the blonde, "You and Hermione kept telling us to be nice to him-" "They were quite right, Harry, I warned Sirius when we adopted twelve Grimmauld Place as our headquarters that Kreacher must be treated with kindness and respect. I also told him that Kreacher could be dangerous to us. I do not think that Sirius took me very seriously, or that he ever saw Kreacher as a being with feelings as acute as a humans-" "Are you blaming him? Are you blaming Sirius for this? For his own death?" Harry questioned, not looking at either of them. More tears made their way down Mikayla's face, they pooled at her chin until there was enough weight on them to drop down onto her clothing. Her cheeks and eyes burned. "No- what Kreacher chose to do was nowhere Sirius's fault. Kreacher is what he has been made by wizards, he is cruel because he was treated cruelly" said Dumbledore. "Yes, he is to be pitied. His existence has been as miserable as your friend Dobby's. He was forced to do Sirius's bidding, because Sirius was the last of the family to which he was enslaved, but he felt no true loyalty to him. And whatever Kreacher's faults, it must be admitted that Sirius did nothing to make Kreacher's lot easier-"

"DON'T TALK ABOUT SIRIUS LIKE THAT!"