Hey Y'all,
I know its been a long time, I've been slowly working on multiple stories, I'm sure you'll notice with this one chapter that it seems like I stopped and started writing many times and you would be right in that assumption. I'm constantly going back and changing things to ensure this story and all the others i'm writing are able to keep your attention and never get boring.
Thank you for all your comments and dedication to my stories.
Once again I own nothing that was created by J.K.R.
Chapter 2
Oregon, USA
July 31, 1995
Albus Dumbledore sat in the small pub tucked away in the forests that covered the western part of the Rocky Mountains that dominated the eastern half of Oregon, one of the few states that housed magical communities throughout the United States of America. He was steadily growing impatient waiting for the wooden clock on the wall to match the designated time for him to meet one of his wayward students, Harry Potter. Ever since the boy's first year letter to Hogwarts, School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, was met with silence from the boy, Albus had gone from his usually calm and collected, grandfather attitude, to a stressed and constantly furious old man.
Instead of using the Potter brat to secure the Sorcerer's Stone from his former mentor, Nicolas Flamel, he had to fight off a possessed Professor Quirrell, calm down an irate ministry and board of education to keep the school from closing, but he also had to survive the wrath of his former mentor and his wife, which, after centuries of living, were still quite the formidable and terrifying pair when working together.
In the boy's would be second year he had to contend with half-bloods and muggle-born students getting attacked by the monster of Salazar Slytherin's legendary Chamber Of Secrets, the pure-blood extremist, Lucius Malfoy attempting to take over the school through political influence (*cough* Corruption. Sorry, had something in my throat before I said "corruption") but he also had to deal with some muggle-born second year girl discovering what had been attacking the students and to top it off the girl had the audacity to slay the ancient creature, a Basilisk, with a muggle weapon. Later she confessed that after the attacks started she had wrote home to her family and in less than a week they had sent her the "Shotgun" with the necessary tools to use it. It was both an insult and an eye opener for those in the magical world. Creatures that had, for years, been thought of as near invincible and could only be killed by certain, special means. But this little second year girl with barely a third year's level of magic, defeated a century old mythical creature with a piece of metal the size of his, (Albus') thumb through the roof of the mouth and out the back of the head, blasting a hole the size of a bludger in the beast's brain, killing it.
After that crazy year, he had to contend with the sudden and unexpected release of Sirius Black from the most feared magical prison in the world, Azkaban. This was followed by a full inquiry and his hand was caught in the proverbial cookie jar that was keeping an innocent man locked away in prison. Afterwards, Black seemed to just disappear, vanished into thin air.
It was another year that Albus had held out hope that the prospect of the Quidditch World Cup would lure the boy out of whatever hole he had been hiding in, but instead the Death Eaters, remnants of the last Dark Lord's followers made an appearance and had caused a panic, bordering on a near international incident as the other magical communities from other countries had been amongst the crowds that had been attacked by the Death Eaters. Many of them fought back with surprising skill and even those with no knowledge or skill in combat magic were fighting back, using their superior numbers to overwhelm the Death Eaters. It wasn't until the tri-wizard tournament started that Albus dared to hope for the briefest of moments that the boy would show when his name came out of the goblet of fire. But alas it wasn't to be, and instead it was discovered that a Death Eater that had been impersonating his defense against the dark arts teacher had done the deed. This was discovered when the first task of the tournament had happened and when it was announced that the task had ended that the Imposter was encompassed by the same blue flame that the goblet held. For a minute, the man seemed to burn then the flames flew from him to the goblet, a sign that the man's magic had been taken from him, as is the price for not participating in the tournament.
It wasn't until the end of the school year that he had received a message from the elusive Potter. He had given him instructions to meet him in this bar on this night in the next five minutes and he would have one chance to convince the boy to come to Hogwarts to, at the very least, finish his magical education. It wasn't the location, nor the prospect of "convincing" the boy to return to England and to his control, that had the aging wizard worried. It was how far the boy had grown out of the headmaster's control. The boy must have had some form of help to survive without Albus there to keep him on the right path.
He was disturbed from his thoughts when a very attractive woman slid her way into the booth seat on the other side of the ageing wizard. She had long brown hair in a wild, spikey look. Her tanned skin seemed flawless to the older man's eyes. Her black, leather jacket was resting in her lap displaying her dark purple wife-beater which showed her developing upper body. What really caught the headmaster's attention was her ice blue eyes, sharp and cold like the Antarctic tundra in a blizzard. But it wasn't the color of her eyes that had the headmaster on edge, it was the type of eyes she had, wolf's eyes.
Albus went for his wand but was met with a clicking sound from both in front and behind him. Albus Dumbledore was no stranger to the modern day muggle weapons having seen them evolve during both of the muggle world wars, which the wizard had served in when he was younger. So the sight of a handgun and the prospect of a second person behind him with an equally dangerous weapon, gave the old wizard a clear message, so he simply placed his empty hands on the table in a slow and non-threatening way.
"Bad first impression Headmaster, if this is what to expect in England, then it'll be a cold day in hell before I decide to ever go to that hellhole you call a school."
The man that had been standing behind the headmaster, walked around to sit next to the she-wolf, and Albus Dumbledore got his first look at the young man that had escaped his clutches after leaving him in the muggle world at only a year old. His black hair, long and tamed to some semblance of control, if the fact that it was styled back out of his eyes and face, while having a windswept look was any clue. His sharp features, resemblance of his mother, while his build was aristocratic and strong; a noble warrior. His eyes, sharp and green just like his mother's, but unlike his mother's eyes, these eyes were eyes that held power. Power that the old wizard had never seen before, even his old mentor's and even some of the powerful wizards and witches he encountered in his long life, had never possessed the amount of power that this young man held before him. The scar that would have given the young man a lot of attention in the wizarding world, sat barely visible just above his right eye. It looked like a small white line against his tanned skin. In his right hand was a handgun that wasn't as large as the gun the she-wolf next to him was holding.
"So, here we are, the man who saw fit to leave me to the 'mercy' of the muggle world only to bring me to the world I was born into, when you need me for something or another. And the boy who was saved from a fate I wouldn't wish on my biggest enemy, learned the truth about the world in its entirety, raised by a man who I consider to be a second father, and saved many people from terrible fates and situations. Each of these people have become great friends that I can rely on, and you go and attempt to attack one of those friends. So tell me, what can you do or offer, to convince me to return to a culture that is still stuck in the pre-renaissance era, and refuses to move forward?"
The elder wizard remained silent as the younger spoke neither one of the younger couple had made any move to put their guns away, but neither had they made any aggressive moves towards him. His time in the wars had taught the old wizard that this was a classic stand-off, they had the upper hand and were just waiting to react, and he was the one that would determine his own fate; walk out alive, or in a body bag. Regaining his composure and deciding that this would not be the time for games, he attempted to salvage what he could of the situation.
"You are quite right on all accounts young man. I admit that I did place you in the care of your muggle relatives, but it was for a good reason. You were still an infant and vulnerable to the followers of the dark lord that tried to kill you on the same night he killed your parents. To protect you, I placed you in the care of your blood relations. Your aunt was your mother's sister, when she took you into her home, a ward would have been placed upon you and the house you call home so no one could locate you or attack you. This would have remained so until you started at Hogwarts, there you would be safe to study magic without any threats or attack made against you."
"I'm going to have to stop you right there headmaster." Harry returned his gun to a shoulder holster under his jacket, before removing a file from the shadows of said jacket and placed it on the table between the two parties. The headmaster slowly reached for the file and opened it reading the contents of the file before placing the file back with a very nervous look.
The older wizard and the young man continued to look at each other in silence, until the older man attempted to speak once again but was silenced by the younger man giving a "Shhhhhhh" and holding his hand to his mouth in the universal jester of silence, before placing the same hand over the file with his index finger falling on top of it with a soft tap.
"May 3rd 1991… what was that all about?"
"Now hold on, the department of records sealed these files." Dumbledore said, while beginning to sweat. While Harry moved his hand back to link fingers together with his other hand and rest them in his lap.
"Yes, well… there's been a new change in management. Management that wants to know why a man with so much political power and preaches about how he is the "leader of the light" is constantly abusing his power for his own gain and going unchecked." Harry stated with a flat tone to his voice and a delivery that sounded like he was explaining it to someone that seemed slow in the mind (Look up; Retarded).
"B-b-b-but everything I've done has been for the greater good and…"
"Ahh and there it is… 'The greater good'," Harry interrupted. A victorious grin on his face, looking like a predator that had finally trapped his prey. Albus' eyes grew wide at the statement.
"I've had the pleasure of encountering many of your followers over the years. They don't remember of course, but I did, and do you know what they all kept telling me? That everything you did was for 'the greater good.' So I started asking myself, what is this greater good that everyone that seems to follow you so religiously keeps talking about? To answer this question I began using my contacts to look into everything you did and every organization you had a hand in, including your little resistance group you formed during the last war with England's last dark lord. The more information I received from my contacts, the more I began to understand. The greater good was, in fact the good of only one person; Albus Dumbledore. From the moment you and Gelert Grindelwald heard of the legendary Deathly Hallows, you both began to plot the future of the world. A future that results in the non-magical folks being subjugated and treated like nothing more that property, while the magical folks are separated into classes based on purity of blood and magical prowess, with you and your former lover on the top of the food chain, and ruling the entire world. Unfortunately things didn't go to plan for you and since you have never been able to kill anyone in your life due to the trauma of losing your sister during a fight with Grindlewald and never knowing who it was that cast the spell that killed her. Now you play the master manipulator; influencing people through lies, trickery, even controlling people through magic and potions to achieve your goals. You did this with Tom Riddle Jr. and my parents so you could bring about the dawn of your reign."
Albus was stunned, this boy, not even 16, had him, Albus (too many middle names) Dumbledore by the balls. (Why the balls? Well I'm sure his relationship with Grindlewald can cover that explanation) He couldn't hide anything from this boy and worst of all, he couldn't control him. He knew too much, but he was in a position that would favor him in any confrontation. So instead of attempting to fight, Dumbledore decided to play a card he never thought he would have to play, ever.
"What do you want?"
"What?"
"What do I have to give you so that you will return to England and attend Hogwarts?"
"Now this is interesting, the great Albus Dumbledore, attempting to win over a powerful adversary with bribery." Harry never lost his cool composure but now it was tinted with amusement.
"Well what would you have to offer me? Money? I already have plenty of that, even with the monthly withdraws from my account by you and your followers it still hasn't put a dent in my finances. That is something I'm also planning to collect on you and all the others that have stolen from me in time. Special Privileges? Those aren't necessary, since my family is an old one and has many titles and status' attached to it both from my mother's and father's sides so I technically have special privileges already. Women? Well given your sexual preference I can only expect you to try to play matchmaker with some fanatical woman that is firmly in your pocket, or some girl that has the physical stature of a man rather than the beautiful shapes and curves that is the true women of the world, and since I already have multiple women around the world pledging themselves to me, including this lovely alpha right beside me, I have no need for you to try to add anyone to the mix. So it would seem that you are out of ways to bribe me." Harry finished with more amusement in his voice than when he started, fully aware of his companion blushing up a storm at the comment he made about her.
Albus was beginning to grasp at straws, there was no bribing through normal means, and no way to control him through lies. There was one last option he had but he was beginning to doubt if the Potter boy would accept.
"What about ruling the world with me? Be granted immortality?"
This was met with a soft laugh from the boy and a feral grin from the she-wolf.
"Oh man, you must really be desperate, you pull the hypocritical offer of immortality, and the offer to rule the world? While immortality would be something, I really don't need what you're selling. I have many girls that possess quite brilliant minds and I'm sure that they along with the other women can work together to find a way to make me immortal with no strings attached. As for ruling the world… I really have no desire to, nor the high level of insanity to even try. Too much paperwork, people, and not enough time to travel and spend time with my future family. So thank you for the offer, but no."
Now Albus was forced into a corner, he had no other choice.
"What if I told you there was a prophecy involving you and Tom Riddle?"
"I would say since I defeated him as an infant that the prophecy would be complete." Harry countered with no hint of amusement any more, now he seemed to be bored with the conversation.
"I'm afraid that was only part of the prophecy, and as for defeating him, he was only driven to ground. During the night of the third task of the Triwizard Tournament last year a death eater managed to kidnap the champion of the tournament by a portkey and performed a ritual to give the spirit of Tom a new body. He is back and currently laying low attempting to rally all those who were loyal to him before his downfall. That is why you must return to England, because you are the only one prophesized to defeat him."
Harry simply kept his face the same bored expression, "So? You think I'm still the only one that can kill him? He escaped death once, so you believe the prophecy is still valid? My god, if you are supposed to be the representative of the entire magical population in England, than I can see why your culture is still stuck in the pre-renaissance age…"
Harry would have continued his rant, but the theme music from Law and Order interrupted him. With a quick "Hold on," the young sorcerer reached into his jacket and extracted a cell phone. After acknowledging the caller he remained quiet for a few seconds before giving a quick "Understood," before hanging up the call and returning the handheld device to his jacket.
Albus Dumbledore awoke with a start, after a quick look around he realized he was back in his office in Hogwarts and attached to his desk was a piece of paper with a five inch throwing knife protruding from the top of the page. After removing the knife he examined the paper for any magic before reading the message written on the paper.
"It's your lucky day old man,
Seems my employer has some investments in England that have been threatened by some terrorist organization, and he needs me to handle it, that means I'll be going to London. So you have until September to come up with a winning argument to keep me in the country once my work is done.
Signed,
Harry Potter"