Disclaimer: I can honestly say that after looking at my poor bank balance I do not own any of the characters that you see and recognise here from either Harry Potter or The Labyrinth, I am just having a little fun with them all

Chapter Thirty Three – Thou shalt not Twinkle

Dumbledore stood at the window of his office watching as three students emerged from the forest behind Hagrid's hut. From the several charms he had placed on Hagrid's hut many years ago he knew exactly who they were; it was one of those students he stood watching that was the reason for the constant simmering frustration he had been feeling since the term had re-started after Christmas.

He had been so confident that his plan with young Harry's cloak would work and that once the boy returned to the castle all his other plans would finally start to get back on track.

Within one day of the child's return he had discovered that his plan had failed as a result of meddling goblins that should learn to keep their noses out of things they have no business interfering in.

He had sat upon his golden chair (he denied it was a throne whenever anyone called it that within his hearing) and looked out over the students in the Great Hall as they ate on the night they had returned, it was on his third pass over them all that he finally allowed himself to turn his eyes to where young Harry was sitting.

He had expected to see the boy sitting slightly apart from those he had begun to be friends with in Hufflepuff and looking longingly at both the Gryffindor table where he rightfully belonged and the Weasley boy.

Dumbledore had also been a little curious if Harry would have a slightly dazed look or air as an after effect of the spells and potions he had used. He was sure that if there was one it would be unnoticeable to anyone else but he was supremely confident that his own observational skills, (which he considered to be far above that of any others) would see such a look or air about young Harry.

Of course then it would have just been a case of making sure he ran into the boy on his way back to the Hufflepuff common room after the feast and he would finally be back under his control where he belonged.

Instead he had seen young Harry sat in the middle of the other first years, laughing with them while enjoying the feast.

His alarm bells did start to sound a little in the back of his mind at the sight, but he ignored them; he chose to believe that the boy was simply pretending for the sake of the other Hufflepuff's before quietly coming to make his request to change houses to his rightful place in Gryffindor.

He would make sure to give young Harry some praise for his excellent acting skills, after all he wanted the boy to look to him as a positive role model and a little praise every now and then would merely help to reinforce that.

Yes after the feast he would go with his first plan and catch him in the corridor and then everything would be back to how it should be.

However that was not what had happened, oh he had easily managed to be walking down one of the corridors near to their House, where he had benignly greeted the group, something else which caused the little alarm bell to ring again. The boy should have been on his own by now, once more he chose to ignore it and greeted them all and asked if they had all had a good Christmas holiday.

He got general replies from them all; a little curious about the amused glances they seemed to shoot young Harry as they did so.

What annoyed him was the way young Harry had slid to the back of the group when he approached and besides not seeming inclined to respond to his enquiry, was very alert and clear eyed.

None of the signs he expected to see from the child due to the effect of the spells and potions on the parcel and the cloak itself he had sent him.

Hoping a more direct approach might work he had given his best grandfatherly smile and asked if young Harry (making sure to call him by that ridiculous nickname he insisted on using) had gotten the Christmas present he had sent, making sure to subtly stress on the fact that it was on behalf of his late father, a dear friend of his before that tragic night.

He thought he had seen a brief flicker of anger pass through the boys eyes but it was gone so quick he decided he must have been wrong, after all what had he done or said that could be a cause for anger from the child.

Young Harry had given a small indifferent shrug and to his horror informed him that his father had all his post screened and he hadn't heard of anything being sent from the Headmaster but he would write and ask his father to double check in case it had gotten caught up in the screening process.

A spark of irritation initially ran through Dumbledore as the boy spoke, at how that fool of a banker had the gall to attempt to replace James Potter and have the child call him father.

Once he finished and his words sank in Albus had been furious; his plans were in ruins once more because of that interfering goblin King.

The infuriating man must have realised that Albus had sent the cloak and it was possible whatever system, or enchanted devices he had in place had detected one or two of the spells on the wrapping and used it as enough of an excuse to keep it away from young Harry.

Meaning the boy wouldn't have even touched it, which would have been enough to activate all of the spells and potions to a mild degree, but ideally he would have tried it on and so fall under their full effects.

He was back at square one, unless he could get the cloak back from whatever this screening process was and gift it to the child while he was at Hogwarts.

Of course this would also run the risk of his identity as being the one to place the charms and potions on the cloak being confirmed, at the moment it was only a possibility that he had been identified.

As a result of his position as the Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot and for the ICW, he was well aware not only how illegal many of them were but what punishments they incurred.

Perhaps another route was needed, a proxy once more but who could he sacrifice to the cause for the cloak, a powerful tool needed to influence one extremely important mind who had equal value to it? It was a thought to consider for another time.

Seeing his attempt with the cloak as a clear failure, caused some of the confidence he had been feeling during the feast to crumble a little but pushing that aside he merely firmed his resolve to push forward with a second attempt he had already gotten started over the Christmas holidays as well as activate his third plan that would ensure young Harry had the necessary contact he needed the boy to have with the Mirror of Erised.

It had been so easy to take a second detour that night and catch the youngest Weasley boy before he reached Gryffindor tower, then it was a simple matter of a few platitudes while he wandlessly worked his compulsions on the boy's simple mind.

Finally today both of his back up plans had kicked in and gotten started, he had been more than pleased when as he was sitting and going through some of the paperwork that he was unable to foist off onto Minerva, the alarm he had placed on the room with the mirror, keyed to the boy with a few drops of the precious blood he had stored, had been set off.

Albus was sure that the mirror would ensnare the child with illusions of his greatest desires as it had greater and older minds throughout history, even he had been caught up with it when he first encounted the mirror. It had been Gellert that had pulled him from its grasp.

He sat back with a smile, sometime tonight after curfew he would slip into the room and place some invisibility wards that he would then slip behind early the following night so as to monitor the boy when he next showed up.

After a couple of nights observation, to make sure the mirror had a deep enough grip on the boy he would reveal himself and teach the boy about it, show how his own greater wisdom could lead and teach the boy away from such danger that was placed before him and that he needed to listen to him, that only Albus Dumbledore could keep him safe from such things.

He would also be able to place the seeds of what to do the next time he saw the mirror, and then it would be moved and the stone placed within it, or maybe a fake one. He had yet to decide on if he should give up the real one; after all it was providing him with two precious resources that might be vital in the future fight against Voldemort.

Pulling himself out of such thoughts, he sat forward to continue with his work when his alarms on Hagrid's hut went off, he glanced at them and was pleased to see that they indicated Harry's presence, with a wave of his wand he turned the volume up on the listening charms placed on the devices connected to the wards on the hut.

"…at I think it is?" he heard and much to his annoyance recognised it as the voice of Neville Longbottom, he had hoped that only Harry would be involved in the little dragon plot he had set up with Hagrid, not that his groundskeeper was aware he was being used as the second attempt to gain the boy back under his control.

It had taken a mixture of two chance encounters along with two chats over tea, one at Hagrid's hut and one here in his office to subtly plant the necessary compulsions in Hargid's mind to go to young Harry for help. No easy feat, even for a master of the mind arts like himself considering how resistant giants, even half-giants were to magic, including mind magic's, but eventually he had been successful.

As he continued to listen in he was irritated to hear the young Granger girls voice too, they were two pests that kept getting in his way to have young Harry become best friends with the Weasley boy and thus have another layer of control over who the child interacted with.

Things in the hut developed and to his delight he heard that he was about to hear one of young Harry's little secrets, though he did not believe it would be anything of significance after all he was only an eleven year old boy, but if it was something he could later use as a subtle manipulation on him, well all the better.

Then to his own immense confusion he heard nothing but a lot of silly growls and hisses from the boy, what was this? What was he playing at?

Surely the child didn't really think he could talk to dragons did he? They were animals, simple dumb creatures, they didn't have a language as he seemed to be suggesting to his little friends and Hagrid.

And as for all this claptrap about the dragon's gender and gaining a voice and magic, well again he knew in his own superior knowledge of the creatures that it was rubbish, after all he had done extensive research on the creatures.

Had he not been the one to discover all the different uses for their blood, with some help from Nicholas Flamel of course but he was sure thinking back on the experience of it all he had done the majority of the work.

Though he was hardly surprised at how the simple and naïve minds of the boys friends and Hagrid's were accepting it, but he was Albus Dumbledore, he was far older and wiser and saw it as a trick, aimed at making young Harry seem greater than he was, no he wouldn't fall for this nonsense.

By now he had moved over to the window and was staring down at the hut as he listened, he watched as they emerged and headed off into the forest. He would have to set a ward to the entrance of the castle to catch young Harry as he made his attempt to move the dragon, even though he had not heard any specific plan he was sure the boy would try to do it at night sometime soon.

Again perhaps he could use it as an opportunity to make it seem as if the child owed the headmaster a favour by being the one to catch him and overlook the breach, placing the boy in his debt would be a good step towards regaining the control he needed to guide him. Or maybe he should have Minerva find him; yes her strict ways would be a nice contrast to his more benevolent handling of the situation.

Yes, he was sure that while the start of the new term had brought him further frustrations, he was certain that by the end of the week he would finally have taken the first step to getting things back to how they should be. Young Harry would be in his debt twice over thanks to the mirror and the dragon.

One of those debts he would call in by having the boy spend some time in his office alone with him, extra tuition, perhaps regarding how to deal with becoming the lord of House Potter yes teaching him that would help make sure that any political power the House of Potter had would stay in his hands.

By having the boy learn politics from him would make sure he only understood them as to they were relevant to how Albus wanted the Potter seat to be aligned and vote.

Besides it's not like young Harry would ever reach the age to be able to use the power his seat gave him anyway to need learning politics correctly, not with the prophecy meaning his more than likely early demise at the hand of Voldemort that would lead to Albus's own defeat of the Dark Lord, re-cementing his place as the Wizarding Worlds leader.

Yes, such private lessons would give him plenty of time to ensure young Harry fell back under his control and guidance, away from not only the fool that thought himself a father to the boy, a position that was rightfully his thanks to the prophecy and what it meant for the wizarding world, but from Minerva's and Pomona's more recent meddling too.

Dumbledore moved back over to his desk feeling much better than he had since the students had returned to the castle after Christmas, he didn't grumble over the remaining paperwork or about the upcoming School Board meeting feeling more like his old self and certain that he could handle anything they had to throw at him.

He was the great Albus Dumbledore, he was in control and all would be fine thanks to his great vision of the Greater Good and how the world should be.

xx

A/N Wow where has the time gone? Well first off I guess I should apologise for the delay in getting this chapter to you all but well, real life just gets in the way and when that real life is a little monster named Andrew and is still new to the world, unfortunately I just can't say no to him, not when he gives me that big eyed look and giggles at me so sweetly, even if he is a stinky bummed little monster.

Anyway thank you so much to all you guys out there, not only for your patience but for the favourites and follows I keep getting, even with such a long time between updates, it means a lot to me.

I would also like to reiterate that no matter how long it gets between updates, how much real life gets in the way I have no intention of abandoning this story.

A point to make about this chapter, please remember that to Dumbledore Jared/Harry is always just Harry Potter. In his mind he refuses to see him as anything else, along with refusing to see him as being anything but a child that couldn't know anything because he, Dumbledore hasn't told Harry/Jared what to think, that Dumbledore is the only genius around that could possibly know anything as well as be correct on any matter of importance.

Dumbledore has forgotten, power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. He has been lauded as the greatest for so long he no longer believes he could be anything else.

Well anyway, until next time,

Keep writing and gave fun

V.