[HP] The magic thieves #13 (Patreon)

Chapter #13: the headmaster's questions.

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Harry gritted his teeth at the sight, it seemed like Dumbledore didn’t want to waste any second, Harry didn’t want to deal with him right now, he was the last person Harry wanted to see and he was fighting a lot to not snap at him, he wanted to know who told Voldemort the prophecy and only three people knew about that, Trelawney, the one who passed the prophecy and Dumbledore and he knew none of them would face him and tell him the truth.

He would love to get that information by force if he could, however, he knew he wouldn’t be able to make Dumbledore tell him the truth with that method, Dumbledore was just too strong for him to even think about doing something like that, Harry’s anger little by little subdued the moment he felt Hermione’s hand on his own, he couldn’t help but smile at her.

“Headmaster…What can I do for you?” Asked Harry as he gritted his teeth and avoided the old wizard’s eyes from time to time.

Dumbledore was taken aback by his cold attitude and the fact that he was avoiding his gaze, he was worried that the young man had finally realized that he could read minds, not that he had done that with Harry but the questions he had required him to be honest.

Dumbledore didn’t want to do it, but if he had to force the truth out of Harry he was going to do it, if they wanted to have a small chance to stop Voldemort then there was no time for gentleness or patience when it came to important information.

“Mr. Potter, I had some questions regarding Arthur Weasley’s current state,” Dumbledore said with the usual cold tone he had been using since the start of the summer.

“Well, that’s weird Headmaster…Mr. Weasley is not here, he’s at St. Mungo’s and I’m sorry, no matter how much the daily prophet tries to tell the world about it I’m not a complete lunatic who would pretend to be a doctor just to have attention, after all, I don’t have any training in healing, in fact, I have zero training in anything that could help me defeat Voldemort,” Harry said trying to sound sarcastic and honest at the same time.

He knew why the old wizard was here, he was actually expecting him, however, he thought that maybe by pretending that he didn’t know what he wanted he could make him forget about questioning him, however, fooling Dumbledore is never easy.

“I’m aware of that Mr. Potter, however, my questions have something to do with a certain vision you had while you were sleeping,” said the old wizard with a tone that made Harry shiver.

The old man knew what he was doing, after all, you don’t become so respected and you don’t reach the top by being gentle all the time, still, Harry has dealt with his fair share of scary people throughout his life, hell living with the Dursleys has taught him to be aware of everyone.

“Oh that…Well, I told you about the visions I had of Voldemort and Pettigrew during my fourth year…I don’t see why that’s so weird now,” Harry said bitterly.

He told Dumbledore about the visions and he didn’t do anything if he had a solution maybe he could have told him back then, still, he knew that he was maybe being a little unfair to the headmaster, and even if he was filled with anger due to the knowledge of the prophecy, he still couldn't bring himself to hate the old wizard or not now at least.

“I must admit that I indeed didn’t give the right amount of attention to this issue, however, the sooner we get to work on a solution the better, don’t you think? It’s clear that there’s a link between you and Voldemort…It wouldn’t be a good idea if he suddenly tricks you by using this link, right?” Dumbledore clearly wasn’t playing any games.

Harry couldn’t help but gulp, the man was good, and if he weren’t because Hermione was with him, he would’ve told Dumbledore everything already.

“T-Trick me? He can do that?” Asked the dark-haired wizard with a scared tone.

“Yes, let’s hope he doesn’t think about making you believe that he’s going to hurt Sirius or Miss Granger if you don’t do what he tells you,” the old wizard’s words clearly hit home.

Harry couldn’t help but feel anger towards Voldemort, he felt so foolish right now, of course, someone like Voldemort would try to do something like that.

“Would you like to come in?” Asked Harry with a serious tone.

He wasn’t on the best terms with Dumbledore, however, he wasn’t going to risk Sirius or Hermione just because of his pride, he was worried Voldemort would control his mind and kill his loved ones, that’s something he never considered and now he was feeling a bit paranoid.

“It’s okay Harry…Nothing will happen to me or Sirius, right headmaster?” Asked Hermione with a hopeful tone.

Clearly, she was a better actress than Harry, she wasn’t as cold as Harry but she wasn’t also being gentle with the old wizard who nodded at Harry’s question.

“Sit on the bed Mr. Potter and tell me everything that led to the events that occurred last night,” Dumbledore wasn’t asking.

Harry and Hermione were still holding their hands as they sat on the bed, Dumbledore windlessly pulled a chair and sat in front of the couple.

“Well, I was dreaming about a peaceful life when suddenly the dream died and I was in some place filled with many crystal balls, even if the room was completely dark it reminded me of Professor Trelawney’s classroom for some reason,” Harry tried to pretend he didn’t know why.

Surprisingly, both Harry and Hermione realized that Dumbledore looked a bit uncomfortable for a second.

“Everything happened so fast but I realized something, I felt like I was Nagini, Voldemort’s familiar, and the next thing I remember is the thing attacking Mr. Weasley until something happened, I don’t know why but the thing suddenly exploded,” Harry stopped to catch his breath.

Dumbledore was still calm but he was carefully analyzing Harry’s words.

“I felt like my body was torn into little pieces and then I felt like floating and that’s when I saw a reflection in the crystal balls, I saw a reflection of whatever nagini turned into…It was a black mist and something I remember is that for a fraction of a second, I saw the black cloud take the form of Voldemort’s face,” Harry finished with an eerie tone.

Luckily the headmaster seemed so focused on his story that he didn’t think too much about Harry moving his gaze away from his own from time to time, Dumbledore was astonished after obtaining that information.

“So…The snake is dead…” The headmaster said to himself.

Harry nodded a bit confused and then the old wizard suddenly got on his feet.

“The connection between you and Voldemort worries me, Harry…That’s why you’re going to have private lessons of legilimency and occlumency to protect your mind Mr. Potter,” Dumbledore’s words made Harry feel a bit hopeful, maybe he was finally going to get trained to fulfill his destiny.

He and Hermione had indeed improved their mind skills, however, it wasn’t enough with just the book they’d been reading, they needed help from an expert, Hermione even wanted to ask the headmaster if she could join Harry’s lessons, however, she didn’t want to get the headmaster to think they were hiding something.

In the end, she decided to remain silent, maybe Harry could teach her what he learns from his lessons.

“And who’s going to teach me, headmaster?” Asked Harry with a weak smile.

“Severus, he’s the best at it,” Dumbledore’s words destroyed Harry’s illusions.

No, the headmaster definitely didn’t like him, or at least that’s what Harry thought.