"What do you think?"
Dumbledore asked Minerva while propping his chin with both of his hands, his lips kissing his knuckles.
"There's absolutely nothing on him. I had my dogs sniff around and found no connection whatsoever with anyone in Britain. Why do you suspect the boy?"
Minerva looked worriedly at her old time friend who seemed to be aging faster than a mayfly. She advised him time and again to take a break from everything, rest for some time and just let her handle everything in Hogwarts.
"Are you sure you don't want to let go of one of your duties in the wizarding community? It's taking a large toll on your body. Just look in the bloody mirror for a second Albus, you are fading away from too much stress."
Unlike all the bulshitty attitude she keeps as a front in front of everybody else, Minerva the old virgin genuinely cares about Albus' health and wellbeing.
"Ahh Minerva, I have already told you the reason why I can't. The snakes and lions in the ministry are just waiting for an opening. Darkness lurks around us all the time, watching us, never resting, waiting for that one weak moment to attack and take everything we've built down crumbling to the ground as ruins of the past. No. I cannot. At least not until I resolve my feud with the dark lords of Britain."
Dumbledore looked at the elder wand lying in the table in front of him. Something that his 'friend' used to own. It's good that his self created dark lord hasn't come back to the realm of the living at the moment or he would be slamming his foot with the boulder he propped up.
Sigh*
"Very well. Quirell suspects nothing at the moment, he still thinks we're dancing to his beat. What do you plan to do with him?"
Minerva was frowning deeply. She was flabbergasted by her frustrated love's decision to allow a spirit possessed person to enter the walls of Hogwarts, expose the children to the danger it brings, and especially the one possessing the said person is the one who must not be named, a dark lord wannabe who wanted nothing good to happen while calling it 'reform'. His bullshit was even brought by the upper nobility even when they knew the guy was a loon. Much to the satisfaction of the fisherman called Dumbledore who had full control of everything from the very beginning.
"Do nothing for now. Our champion did not come out as we have expected. The money you paid for the 'horrible past' project of yours seems to have been wasted on those useless muggles. Are you sure you have properly made them hate the boy? He looked pleasantly beautiful for someone who had experienced abuse in his early childhood."
Minerva shrank slightly at Dumbledore's query about Harry's upbringing. She became complacent about the job since she thought she had done her best work on the Dursleys already. She visited once per year in the beginning and decided to just ditch it altogether as she had tons of things to do at Hogwarts. What can a measly abused boy do anyway? A decision that came to bite her in the ass after many years of negligence. The boy is practically a God amongst men in looks, talent, luck..... its like he was personally chosen by the world to receive her blessings. She left the Dursleys half alive after seeing the boy for the first time after all the past years but she didn't feel any better after torturing the pigs till they gave out.
"I am to blame for this mishap Albus. I neglected my duties and now it has come to haunt us. Do as you see fit, I will openly accept your decision if you wish to punish me."
Minerva stated matter-of-factly with unwavering voice and a decisive tone.
"The fault is mine to take my old friend. You have done the duties of a headmaster in my stead and had no time to spare for other task. It was my lack of foresight that lead to this mishap. I do not blame you for anything, that I assure you."
"....."
Sigh*
'I have been sighing a lot these days. Albus' depression anxiety must be contagious.'
"Do you have any more to talk about? I must return to my class soon."
"Not at the moment no. Just keep an eye out for potential troubles so that we can cope faster. We do it not for ourselves, but for the greater good."
Minerva nodded her head at her friend's words and stood up from her seat to head back to her scheduled classes. Dumbledore just stared at her departing back and into nothingness after she left.
Screach*
"Fawkes, my old friend ill have to rely on you again this time."
Dumbledore looked absent minded for some reason as he caressed the red and golden feathers of his pet phoenix.
..........,....
"...."
"....."
It was just a peck on the lips but Vivien felt her head was about to explode and ran away before she does something she might regret in the future, leaving a dumbstruck Viktor who is still reeling in shock from what just happened a moment ago. He had a smile on his lips as he moved his hand over to it relishing the feeling of Vivien's kiss, when he regained his composure he shook his head, fixed his uniform and walked away as well berating himself for his lack of control in this kind of situations.
"Master."
It was his faithful servant Golie talking to him via the neural network of virtual intelligence included in the dark mark he gave his servants in the form of a cursed mark at the back of their neck, visible only when activated inspired by a crazy murderous dark lord and a legendary ninja from a certain anime. This gives him advantage when it comes to gathering information and looking gathering resources as well as in giving updates on missions for infield officers around the world. This is just to name a few, there are manyQ other benifits from bearing the cursed mark of the Krum household.
"Go on. I am listening."
Viktor stopped walking temporarily to talk to his servant.
"Please forgive my impudence for contacting you without prior arrangements but there's been an emergency that you had to be informed about. The Vampire extermination plan had to be temporarily be put to a stand down."
"And why did you do that?"
"The Vampires of Romania started to be weary of our actions from the incident three years ago with Helsing's coven and employed help from unknown sources. The three Lords of Romania, Lord Alistair, Lord Vladimir and Lord William called out to their younglings and are now cooped up in their underground base with all their blood slaves. We even incurred some losses amongst our ranks trying to proceed with the mission. Thankfully the wolfmen were careful enough not to be captured alive or spill information so everything on that side should be fine. Please instruct me. How do you want me to proceed milord?"
Viktor had a pondering look on his face. He knew that even with the suppression from the magical society, the vampires are still one of the most influencial forces in the whole world and it seems that since he had poked the hornet's nest, the colony is now expected to burst out in retaliation.
"The vampires are putting up a fight eh? I want details on this outside support."
"On it milord."
[Memory file received. File is secured. Safe. Proceed to integration?]
'Proceed.'
"The analysis of the virtual intelligence suggests that the creatures are of similar anatomy and behaviour with some of our insects but their brainwaves are similar to that of human beings. They are physically stronger than our wolfmen army by a small margin and are armored by resilient biometallic alloy, this was the reason why they were capable of repelling our forces again and again."
'Insects? Where did those old prideful pick up the face to ask for aid from another species?'
"Did you manage to secure samples of this type of creature or at least find out where they came from?"
"Ahem... Yes master, we have incurred loses but the enemies weren't unscathed either, in terms of damage caused I'd even say we won, except not the way your highness wished to happen. There are plenty of samples that we have acquired and secured to your personal laboratory since we know that this is the first thing the master would look for. The scientists you recruited are working on analysing the anatomy and biology of these creatures."
Golie sounded proud of his initiative this time. As a previous house elf, it was instinct to him to wait for an order before acting on his decision but now he has changed. Even if its very little, he was still very thankful for it.
"Hahaha good thinking. You know me very well my guardian. Don't worry about the losses, its natural to lose sometimes, but we can't just let it go like this either now... can we?"
Viktor though for the most appropriate action for the matter and quickly came up with an idea.
'Hmmmmm'
"First Guardian Golie."
Viktor is now smiling slyly with a sinister glint in his eyes.
"Yes, milord?"
"Pull out our forces in Romania who are in this assignment and then blast that underground base into smithereens with our newly developed weapons. Let this be an example of what happens to those who defy us."
'Plus we'll get to see how effective those weapons are in actual live test hahaha.'
"And Golie..."
"Yes mas... ter?"
Golie would tremble whenever his master gets like this. He knew that Viktor would never do anything to hurt him, but still this is something that he did not wish to witness for the remainder of his service to his master. Even he who is an ally still felt fear from the master whenever he gets agitated, something deeper than instinct is telling him to just run and hide when that happens.
"We strike fast and true, make sure that the enemy does not know what hit them."
'The master is ruthless and kind. Evil and righteous. Malevolent and caring. Something beyond the understanding of someone like myself.'
"Yes, milord. This one knows what to do and will take care of it with the best of my ability."