Into The Light (Golden Trio Era) {2}

Lily's Protection

"DON'T TALK ABOUT SIRIUS LIKE THAT!" Harry rose from his chair so quickly that is nearly tipped over. "What about Snape?" Harry hissed. "You're not talking about him, are you? When I told him Voldemort had Sirius he just sneered at me as usual-" Dumbledore shook his head. "Harry, you know that Professor Snape had no choice but to pretend not to take you seriously in front of Dolores Umbridge, but as I have explained, he informed the Order as soon as possible about what you had said. It was he who deduced where you had gone when you did not return from the forest. It was he too who gave Professor Umbridge fake Veritaserum when she was attempting to force you to tell of Sirius's whereabouts..." "Snape- Snape g-goaded Sirius about staying in the house- he made out Sirius was a coward-" You could hear the fight in his voice, he wanted someone to blame, but for the first time Mikayla thought Snape did nothing wrong.

"Sirius was much too old and clever to have allowed such feeble taunts to hurt him," "Snape stopped giving me Occlumency lessons!" Harry protested. "He threw me out of his office!" "I am aware of it," Dumbledore started, "I have already said that it was a mistake for me not to teach you myself, though I was sure, at the time, that nothing could have been more dangerous than to open your mind even further to Voldemort while in my presence-" "Snape made it worse, my scar always hurt worse after lessons with him. How do you know he wasn't trying to soften me up for Voldemort, make it easier for him to get inside my" "I trust Severus Snape," Dumbledore made no real address to his words. "But I forgot- another old man's mistake- that some wounds run too deep for the healing. I thought Professor Snape could overcome his feelings about your father- I was wrong."

"But that's okay, is it?" Harry's voice raised again, "It's okay for Snape to hate my dad, but it's not okay for Sirius to hate Kreacher?" "Sirius did not hate Kreacher," Dumbledore said. "He regarded him as a servant unworthy of much interest or notice. Indifference and neglect often do much more damage than outright dislike... The fountain we destroyed tonight told a lie. We wizards have mistreated and abused our fellows for too long, and we are now reaping our reward." "SO SIRIUS DESERVED WHAT HE GOT, DID HE?" Harry shouted, Mikayla flinched again. "I did not say that, nor will you ever hear me say it. Sirius was not a cruel man, he was kind to house-elves in general. He had no love for Kreacher, because Kreacher was a living reminder of the home Sirius had hated." "Yeah, he did hate it!" Mikayla could hear Harry's footsteps walk away. "You made him stay shut up in that house and he hated it, that's why he wanted to get out last night-" "I was trying to keep Sirius alive," Dumbledore replied. "People don't like being locked up!" Harry spat. "You did it to me all last summer-" Mikayla couldn't help but remember the anger Harry felt when he arrived at Grimmauld Place before term, how he felt to be kept in the dark.

"It is time," Dumbledore sighed, "for me to tell you what I should have told you five years ago, Harry. Please sit down. I am going to tell you everything. I ask only a little patience. You will have your chance to rage at me- to do whatever you like- when I have finished. I will not stop you." "Should I leave, Professor?" Mikayla asked softly. "No, I am afraid this involves you as well," he answered causing Mikayla's eyebrows to furrow. When she heard Harry return to his chair she looked over at him, his jaw clenched, his knuckles stretched white. "Five years ago you arrived at Hogwarts, Harry, safe and whole, as I had planned and intended. Well- not quite whole. You had suffered. I knew you would when I left you on your aunt and uncle's doorstep. I knew I was condemning you to ten dark and difficult years." Harry said nothing. "You might ask- and with good reason- why it had to be so. Why could some Wizarding family not have taken you in? Many would have done so more than gladly, would have been honored and delighted to raise you as a son. My answer is that my priority was to keep you alive. You were in more danger than perhaps anyone but myself realized. Voldemort had been vanquished hours before, but his supporters- and many of them are almost as terrible as he- were still at large, angry, desperate, and violent. And I had to make my decision too with regard to the years ahead. Did I believe that Voldemort was gone forever? No. I knew not whether it would be ten, twenty, or fifty years before he returned, but I was sure he would do so, and I was sure too, knowing him as I have done, that he would not rest until he killed you. I knew that Voldemort's knowledge of magic is perhaps more extensive than any wizard alive. I knew that even my most complex and powerful protective spells and charms were unlikely to be invincible if he ever returned to full power. But I knew too where Voldemort was weak. And so I made my decision. You would be protected by an ancient magic of which he knows, which he despises, and which he has always, therefore, underestimated- to his cost. I am speaking, of course, of the fact that your mother died to save you. She gave you a lingering protection he never expected, a protection that flows in your veins to this day. I put my trust, therefore, in your mother's blood. I delivered you to her sister, her only remaining relative."

"She doesn't love me," Harry said without missing a beat. "She doesn't give a damn-" "But she took you," Dumbledore took no time to let him finish. "She may have taken you grudgingly, furiously, unwillingly, bitterly, yet still she took you, and in doing so, she sealed the charm I placed upon you. Your mother's sacrifice made the bond of blood the strongest shield I could give you." "I still don't-" "While you can still call home the place where your mother's blood dwells, there you cannot be touched or harmed by Voldemort. He shed her blood, but it lives on in you and her sister. Her blood became your refuge. You need return there only once a year, but as long as you can still call it home, there he cannot hurt you. Your aunt knows this. I explained what I had done in the letter I left, with you, on her doorstep. She knows that allowing you houseroom may well have kept you alive for the past fifteen years."

"Wait," Harry seemed to be paying the most direct attention at this very moment. "Wait a moment. You sent that Howler. You told her to remember- it was your voice-" "I thought," Dumbledore said, leaning forward slightly, "that she might need reminding of the pact she had sealed by taking you. I suspected the dementor attack might have awoken her to the dangers of having you as a surrogate son." "It did," Harry nodded, "Well- my uncle more than her. He wanted to chuck me out, but after the Howler came she- she said I had to stay. But what's this got to do with..." Harry could not say his name, hell, Mikayla could barely think it. This all felt like a horrible dream that she couldn't wake up from. She leaned over the right of her chair and held out a hand for him, he placed his hand in her but did not look up.

"Five years ago, then," continued Dumbledore, "you arrived at Hogwarts, neither as happy nor as well nourished as I would have liked, perhaps, yet alive and healthy. You were not a pampered little prince, but as normal a boy as I could have hoped under the circumstances. Thus far, my plan was working well. And then... well, you will remember the events of your first year at Hogwarts quite as clearly as I do. You rose magnificently to the challenge that faced you, and sooner- much sooner- than I had anticipated, you found yourself face-to-face with Voldemort. You survived again. You did more. You delayed his return to full power and strength. You fought a man's fight. I was... prouder of you than I can say. Yet there was a flaw in this wonderful plan of mine," Dumbledore shook his head to himself. "An obvious flaw that I knew, even then, might be the undoing of it all. And yet, knowing how important it was that my plan should succeed, I told myself that I would not permit this flaw to ruin it. I alone could prevent this, so I alone must be strong. And here was my first test, as you lay in the hospital wing, weak from your struggle with Voldemort."

"I don't understand what you're saying," said Harry.