Disclaimer: Harry Potter and all its characters belong to JK Rowling. In no way do I intend to profit from this pathetic attempt at work of art ;)

A.N- Its been a very long year dear readers. Despite all my attempts o sit down and try to continue writing, the pressures of real life issues have made it almost impossible. Funny that I managed to write this very short chapter when infact I am supposed to be studying for my final exams. Anyway, most of you might notice that the quality of my writing has definetly dipped in quality(not that it was awe-inspiring before) but i'm simply out of practice. I thank you all for the reviews. It warms my heart when i come across 100K word fics that dont have the same amount of reviews as my little fic has. I'll try my best to keep updating 'Phoenix tears'... Enjoy this very short chapter :

As Harry trudged up the path that lead to the castle, he slowly drunk in the features of the place he had learned to call home over the past few years. To his left stood the small hut ,that belonged to Hagrid the gatekeeper, where Harry had spent many days plotting new adventures and interrogating the friendly half-giant. Behind it was the dark and intimidating forbidden forest. Gazing at the forest sent a chill down Harry's spine. The meeting with Voldemort's spirit in the first year and Aragog the Acromantula in the second year weren't the young wizard's best memories of Hogwarts. Harry was so lost in memories of years gone by that he did not notice the imposing figure of his transfiguration's professor standing at the inner entrance of the castle.

'Mr. Potter what, may I ask, are you doing here when I know for sure that you should be somewhere else at this very moment'

The stern tone in the professors question shook Harry out of his reverie, and it took a moment before the question she had asked actually made sense to him.

'Oh, hello Professor McGonagall. I'm here to meet the headmaster to discuss a few things of great importance. Come to think of it, I think that it would be a great Idea for you to join us.'

McGonagall had never seen the young wizard talk to her with such confidence and thus decided to just agree with him and the duo immediately set for a silent walk to the Headmaster's office.

Upon arrival, the stone gargoyle entrance immediately sprung apart as if it was expecting their arrival. Harry wasted no time and quickly ran up the flight of stairs that led to one of Hogwarts most famous rooms.

Dumbledore sat back on his chair, one hand gently massaging his aged forehead and the other on the armrest of the ancient armchair. He gazed at the office entrance as the young wizard walked towards him with an air of cold determination. Behind him was his deputy who seemed to be at a loss, never having seen this attitude from the usually meek boy-who-lived.

Harry quickly took a seat without waiting for an invitation and calmly waited for the deputy headmistress to take a seat.

Nothing was said for a few minutes as the occupants of the room seemed to be sizing each other up. Predictably the headmaster reached for some floo powder, but was halted in his tracks by the young wizard.

'Professor, I hardly see the need for you to summon Snape when you haven't yet determined the purpose for my visit. Nevertheless, I'll save you the trouble and inform you right from the beginning that this has absolutely nothing to do with Mr. Snape and that adding him to the proceedings would only needlessly waste precious time. That being said, I had intended to have a private meeting with you, but on seeing Professor McGonagall, I decided that it would be a great idea to have a witness, however questionably biased she may be, to this discussion.'

That proclamation was met with the dimming of the headmasters legendary twinkling eyes, and the offended sputtering of one transfiguration mistress.

'Professor, the past few days have been days of revelation for me. I found out many things that usually would have me questioning the sanity of the providers of said information, but I was able to verify beyond any reasonable doubt that the information was indeed correct. It really pained me to discover all you machinations and manipulations regarding my past, present and future. To find out in the span of a few hours that the life I had lived was nothing but an illusion, the friends that I had made were nothing but actors playing their pre determined roles. It broke my heart, it destroyed my spirit, and it shattered my will to live.'

At this point, Dumbledore had yet to make a sound, but McGonagall had her hand on her heart and her mouth wide open. The look of terror and disbelief on her eyes was there for all to see. Harry knew he had to finish what he came to say before he lost the nerve or unleashed his fury on the old man, so he continued before anyone could interrupt.

'Recounting all the details of your betrayal would be tedious and pointless at the moment since you are privy to all the details. Maybe you will share some of those details with your deputy, but I really don't have it in me to care. What I came for today professor was just an answer. Why did you do it? Why would you subject me to all that pain? Make me understand how you could have a phoenix, one of the most Light sided creatures known to mankind still by your side after all you did?'

Dumbledore gazed at the young wizard for a while before he cleared his throat and responded.

' Harry, I have no idea what betrayals you speak of. All I ever did I did it for the greater good. I did it to rid this word of the evil that has tried to take over. First it was Grindelwald and then Voldemort came along. I got rid of Grindelwald, and would have gotten rid of Voldemort too but the emergence of the prophecy ensured that I couldn't do my duty as leader of light. However, since you were the one destined to end Voldemorts reign, I had to make sure that you never went dark and that you were always on the right path. My ways of doing it might not have pleased you or gained your approval, but they worked. Since you joined Hogwarts, you managed to thwart Voltmeters every year except your 3rd and now I even managed to secure tutors to further train you in your journey to finally fulfill your destiny. Things were supposed to proceed smoothly. I do not know where you got the idea that I betrayed you, but it seems that I have to rectify yet another mistake of mine.'

With that Dumbledore stood up and with speed that seemed almost impossible for his age drew his wand and shot a spell directly at Harry. The triumph in his eyes was short lived however, for as the spell was about to hit the boy who lived, he disappeared with a white flash.

As all this was going on, the transfiguration mistress was almost going into cardiac arrest as the discoveries and actions of the day was almost too much for her recovering heart to handle. She gave one last stare to the old headmaster before she quickly exited the office.

Dumbledore wished he could have obliviated her, but he know very well that his deputy had strong mental shields, and that she was protected by the magic of the castle due to her status as the deputy headmistress. With a heavy sigh, the old man went to his liquor cabinet and poured himself a glass of fire-whiskey and downed it in one go.

The events of the day had led him to the startling realization that he had made a huge miscalculation in entrusting Harry Potter with the Flamel's. He also concluded that somehow, there was a leak in his information network. Until he could verify their loyalty, no one could be trusted from now on. His most trusted informants would have to be carefully monitored for any traces of mental intrusions. Popping a few lemon drops, Dumbledore sat back and stared reassessing all his plans.

Back in the Flamel residence, an indifferent Harry Potter explained to his new guardians what had transpired back at the castle. As expected, they were both very annoyed at the actions of the headmaster, but Harry calmly placated them by informing them that it was the expected reaction from the old goat.

After the cooling of tempers, Perenelle surprised Harry when she told him to go and change into some sport gear. The psychotic gleam in her eyes clearly terrorized Harry, and the silent prayer that Nick sent his way didn't help matters at all.

The clear blue sky and the soothing breeze that swept through the open fields that were a part of the Flamel residence made Harry feel like finding a nice shaded spot and having a good nap. However all thought of a nice afternoon nap was quickly pushed aside when an obviously physically fit Perenelle Flamel jogged her way to the spot where Harry was standing.

'Ok Harry, starting today we are going to start working on your stamina and your physical shape in general. One thing that most wizards tend to ignore is their physical fitness. A balance has to be struck between the amount of magic your body possesses and the fitness of your body.

This is especially true for somebody like you who has vast magical reserves. Your body has to be strong enough to contain all that magic, or else the magic is leaked out of your body to fit the weak state of your body thus leaving you with a much smaller pool of magic. With me so far?'

Harry quickly nodded and awaited instructions.

'Today you won't be doing much. First I'll show you a few stretches to warm your muscles up. Then you'll start running.'

' For how long? '

Here Perenelle gave a decidedly evil grin before she answered

'Until you can run no more'

Harry groaned in displeasure before he started following the instructions she gave for the warm up exercise. The last coherent thought he had before he started his long exhausting run was

'Oh this is going to be a crazy few months'