I sat at the head of the table at the Lestranges' manor and listened to reports. We avoided any losses among the Inner Circle, but they looked like thugs after a turf squabble: bruises, cuts, overall raggedness. Nearly every one missed an attack or several. If it were not for dragon blood and defensive amulets, half of them wouldn't have returned. And neither would I.
Their words registered at the edge of my awareness. It was all old news. Giants, undead, and acromantulas were destroyed. I especially regretted losing the Obscurus- the beautiful picture of it crushing the Order like a meat grinder was still playing before my eyes. Ten Death Eaters died. The house elves were slathering Nessie's wounds with something, and it looked a barrel full won't be enough. Even though we killed a large part of the Order and captured both Crouches, I did not feel victorious.
I kept replaying everything in my mind. The method to winning was clear: know yourself and your enemy. I should watch everyone's memories. Assess the enemy's arsenal and tactics. Look for way to counteract them. Determine the Order members' identities. They were obviously protected, but we should reach at least some of them.
I had to dissect Albus's every spell. First, to understand his style. He could alter it, but not immediately or completely. Second, to modify some of his spells for my own use. Light Magic would surely not come easy (maybe try drinking unicorn milk?), but everything else was doable. A magnetism-based spell that pulled all the iron out of human blood! It was brilliant! If anyone could survive it, it was only Albus and Moody.
Third, knowing Dumbledore's squeamishness, it was safe to assume none of these spells harmed the soul. This would give me a safe start. I had enough brains to master at lest some of his modified stunning or blasting spells from memories.
Albus himself concerned me most of all. He was an indescribably dangerous foe. But he tied too much to himself, so his removal was the key to victory. We planned this operation very well: an ambush, quality doping, overwhelming advantage in quality (Avada against Stupefy) and quantity (golems, giants, undead and acromantulas against golems). The old man single-handedly saved them more than once. And hit me three times! What if he decided to switch to killing curses? And even if he didn't, I could not always walk around under multiple Dark rituals! Run away by phoenix? It would work once or twice. Then he would come up with something, some fancy ward… Like the one I had set in the inferi cave, a phoenix couldn't apparate through it… It was stationary and based on human sacrifice, but who knows what the old man can do… And that last attack, what if he tried it again? Modified it or used the name "Voldemort"? I will develop a shield, but he will come up with something new!
I will not succeed simply by increasing the number of Avadas and inferi. Or succeed but become indistinguishable from my previous self. I really didn't want to throw around killing curses while screaming "I'm invincible!"
On a more positive note, Dolohov's team has found Andromeda Black and presumably her family. We had to pick up the daughter for research. As well as the rest of them. I wonder, just what made Andromeda different from Bellatrix? Did she have the same defect? But it was a task for after I recovered.
Most urgently, I had to run to the ritual hall and measure how much necroenergy I gained in the battle. Probably a lot… Then compile a table of spells and their individual effects on the soul… It would surely not be something as simple as a linear correlation, but I still had to try. It was also worth looking into the inverse and test the effects of Light Magic. What if it cleared out this "necroenergy"? Cruciate someone, then go conjure candy for children. Committed a murder? Go practice healing! Not likely, but it made sense to check every other branch of magic… Maybe it would give me an insight into what makes them different and how to master Dark and Light simultaneously.
All of that demanded time… a lot of time. I hesitated to resort to it, but I would need to use a Time-Turner to fit in all the research and training. Hurrah for more Voldemorts!
By the way, it would also be prudent to approach the problem of "necroenergy" through someone not practicing Dark Magic… Or at least someone without years of Dark Arts experience. The only candidate was Lily, so she thereby became my assistant in general and Light magic research. And Bella in Dark. I explicitly told her to kill and not torture during the battle, but she still cruciated everyone…
And thanks to the Time-Turner, I now could show off the Lord and Elena at the same time. The important thing was not to stumble into a time loop…
But my main problem was still Dumbledore. It was truly a testament to the gravity of the situation that I kept obsessing over a bearded old geezer while a gorgeous brunette was staring at me with devotion…
How, oh how to kill him? Poison? Severus had already leaked to him several plans of raids on muggleborns. He came to trust Severus, but I still saw no opportunity to poison him! And even if we succeeded, Dumbledore's accursed bird would shed a few tears and make him like new…
Fine, let's start small. Remove the phoenix, thus removing his ability to apparate anywhere he pleased and his universal medkit against everything. Trap it far away from Albus or find a way to quickly kill it for good… The bird must fly around somewhere, it couldn't always be cooped up in the Headmaster's office…
I also had to analyze the old man's behavior during the mental duel. Drop by a couple of muggle psychologists for a free consultation under Imperius. If he was bent on defending the weak, it made sense to provide him an opportunity to die heroically. Survived an ambush only to die in a trap… The question was, what to put in the said trap? I had two ideas: the Resurrection Stone or a horcrux. He won't bite on a fake, but using the real objects was out of the question…
Assuming the old man found out about Riddle's horcruxes, would he tell anyone? Unlikely: many would jump on the promise of living forever. So, he would go after them himself. Go where? The Gaunt house, most obviously. Then the inferi cave. After that, I was at a loss… Then, I should improve the defenses at those two locations and set up a lure. Let Dumbledore leave to destroy Voldemort's horcrux and never come back. I had no intentions of fighting him again, no desire to die under his heroic onslaught like a fool. He can go take a stroll to a cursed shack or swim at a lake full of inferi. After I adjust the entrance system to force him to impale himself on spears, or better dive head first into a rock… Hopefully, two sets of cursed traps would be enough to destroy one old man. Or maybe the goblins will kill him once he breaks into Gringotts? Not likely…
Somewhere deep inside, my muggle part stirred. Maybe bury a nuclear bomb in the trap? Not even he would survive several megatons… But damn, what if he did and answered with the same? Transformed into something that could not be destroyed without magic? Then I would get busted without recourse: the Lord would never use anything muggle! Fine, a nuclear bomb will be the absolute last option for the last "horcrux," once I create a quality space expansion to prevent the muggles from noticing the explosion… And better do it far outside England. Only that was not anywhere near my specialty, meaning more studying with the Time-Turner…
At the moment, the more pressing concern was how he had overcome me during the mental battle. Just into what did he transform? It was most likely a coincidence, but I should still visit the Lovegoods. Only he might be waiting for me there, knowing I would take interest in his trick. Tom had no muggle education, but he excelled in arithmancy. What Dumbledore was demonstrating was no geometry, it was a psychotic dream of a drunk genius. All right, how much time has passed? Two hours since the beginning of the battle was more than enough, the Time-Turner worked up to four.
I had no more strength than an average wizard, so Edward and Rodolphus can come with: the former was commanding, the latter just went for a walk. All under polyjuice. If someone learned the Lord was afraid to come near the Lovegoods alone, it would end my reputation.
"The meeting is finished," I announced. "Edward, Rodolphus, come with me. Bella, prepare a cell for three prisoners."
If my behavior surprised anyone, they showed no sign of it. Only Macnair was trying to whimper something:
"My Lord, there's an urgent message… The specimen from lab 14/58 escaped while the security was relaxed…"
That lab… It was a simple experiment. Some rituals required the sacrifices to be driven insane before they are killed. Since torture harmed the soul, I thought up an alternative: throw immobilized prisoners into a cell with a boggart. Only strong occluments could resist it, and muggles were completely defensless.
The boggarts were feeding on fear and quickly multiplying. We usually destroyed or portkeyed them somewhere, but I decided to see what would happen if a boggart was sterilized. Normal boggarts would eat, grow and eventually breed by dividing in half like amoebas. The experimental boggart continued to grow and condense until it reached the size of a three story house, then stopped - it must have reached the point of wasting as much energy as it was consuming.
Even I struggled to hold up occlumency under its pressure. We decided to wait and see what qualities it gains. It had been moved to a remote base and periodically fed. The security was obviously extensive- runic circles, guards and all that. But when most of my servants left for battle, the leftovers got careless.
"Let the Aurors deal with it. Inform me of their casualties later. Put everyone responsible for this into the penal squad. I'm leaving now."
Before, the Lord tortured or killed for failures. I decided to improve the system: a failure now resulted in torture plus a mandatory opportunity to redeem yourself in a single difficult task, its danger directly proportional to severity of the failure. And Bella now Crucio'd on my behalf. Everyone was happy: the victims thought Bella's Cruciatus was weaker than mine, Bella was overjoyed with the Lord's trust. (Torture as a sign of trust… It was safe to assume she won't grow any crazier.) And I didn't pick up any unnecessary "necroenergy."
I took the Time-Turner out of my safe and went back to Edward and Rodolphus.
"We are going to the Lovegoods," I said. "Take polyjuice first."
I felt their confusion, but there were no questions. Three turns- and the three of us were in the past.
Albus Dumbledore
Using charmed tweezers and telekinesis, Albus was placing Voldemort's earrings in an isolating container.
"It's been a long time since I fought like this", he thought, looking over the still warm battlefield and darting people. It felt like he was hundred and fifty all over again.
He will remember this day for the rest of his life. Personally, he's had worse, but not by much. Everyone had secrets, and life was no Triwizard Tournament. He had defeated Grindelwald, whose Elder Wand did not save him. Though now Tom was spreading rumors that Albus had been sleeping with Grindelwald and stole the Elder Wand from his pants… That's not how it happened, and Albus did not like talking about it for a different reason.
Albus was always great at transfiguration. When it was time to face Gellert, he came prepared: bathed in the blood of a dragon he personally killed, drank potions, and brought an army of very durable golems.
Of course, Gellert wiped them all out. But they did their job of exhausting him. Years of Albus's work lasted less than two minutes even with his magical support. And then the battle commenced. Going against the Elder Wand was suicide, but Albus did not study under the world's best alchemist for nothing. He brewed a number of potions and brought rare artifacts. And Flamel gave him some of his own creations. But even that proved not enough…
When it felt like Gellert was about to win, Albus transformed into a pure mind and attacked him mentally. It ended in a tie. But when they returned to the real world, they saw Gellert's Elder Wand on the ground a hundred yards away, at the spot where they initially disappeared. The rest was history.
So what did Abus have to be proud of? That his teacher gave him good potions? That he marched an army of puppets in front of him? That Gellert's wand betrayed its master? Or that Fawkes apparated Albus from under attacks and out of traps?
Albus expected trouble at Crouch's and prepared golems in advance. A great many of them. But the manor was too expertly cut off from all travel. He could only bring in the vanguard of the golem army, while the entire Order arrived without problems… And that heralded the beginning of a catastrophe.
Fighting Voldemort was nothing like he expected. It was as if Voldemort worsened in control but increased in energy volume. How could that be? An experimental ritual?
Albus was sure: Voldemort had emptied himself more than once. But how? Flamel would never brew anything for Tom! Abus didn't believe Flamel could be robbed, but it wouldn't hurt to ask… Tom rediscovered the recipe? It was hard to imagine. Even Abus, knowing the recipe and having all the ingredients, could not brew it after Flamel showed him multiple times…
Albus didn't collapse after the mental battle only thanks to some of his experimental potions. After Tom left, he had to keep pushing himself to the limit to help the Aurors kill the Obscurus. Fighting off the fatigue, Albus drank a couple of ordinary energizing potions and got back to work.
He had to go to the hospital to help the wounded, notify the ICW of a member's death, examine the battlefield with the Unspeakables, check the safehouse where Crouch Sr. was kidnapped (how could there be no traces?!), speak with the Minister, examine Voldemort's golems and captured acromantulas…
Albus had Fawkes take him home and picked up his Time-Turner. Of course, he had competent assistants. Another version of him was stopping them from dying at St. Mungo's that very moment.
This day has earned the honorary title of the third worst day in Albus's life, right after Ariana's death and his duel with Grindelwald. Half of the Order was dead. Podmore torn apart by the Obscurus, Amelina trampled by a giant… Inexperienced members were outright swept away. Few lucky ones, like Weasley, escaped with a brief hospital stay.
Albus had to once again bail Robert out of jail and interrogate him under Veritaserum and legilimency… The Aurors released him on the promise of Albus's personal supervision.
Unsurprisingly, the news that Voldemort himself came to defend Crouch's manor and its defenses fired on the Order spread like an out of control Fiendfyre. Crouch Sr. was immediately accused of aiding Voldemort. When he could not be found, both he and his family got blamed for every crime and sin in existence. Everyone looked at Albus with a silent accusation for letting Crouch get away.
None of them listened to Albus's ardent protests that "the Crouches are merely suspects," "They may have been under Imperius," "Crouch was kidnapped by the Death Eaters, who killed the Order guards."
The public pressure forced Milicent Bagnold to announce her resignation. The talented Ravenclaw made a good Minister. Yes, she had trouble lately, but who could handle the hand she's been dealt any better? A week ago, Albus would bet on Crouch. A day ago, on Scrimgeour. But when people were so convinced Voldemort supporters have infiltrated the DMLE that they were demanding a retrial for everyone Crouch ever imprisoned, no one from law enforcement stood a chance to win the elections.
Albus returned to Hogwarts after eight hours, which for him lasted for one hundred and twenty. After making sure Hogwarts was still standing and sending Severus to Voldemort, he went to the Order's headquarters to speak to the few still on their feet. Little over a dozen of people. Most of the survivors were at St. Mungo's.
He made an inspirational speech about the importance of fighting evil, the large blow they had dealt to Voldemort, the importance of honoring their fallen heroes… But his soul felt empty. They've had failures before, but nothing like this! Before, he could look into his people's eyes and see absolute certainty: Albus will defeat Voldemort as soon as he gets a chance to duel him.
They dueled. Albus had done everything in his power, covered his people, hit Voldemort three times… But now he saw nothing but faint traces of their previous faith in him.
Some foreign journalists have already written that Albus hid behind the Order's backs as he was bleeding out, that they would all be dead without his Elder Wand. The Germans rarely had anything positive to say about him… No, of course Albus was all for freedom of speech! But that wasn't how it happened!
Moody argued that Albus should use his authority to force these journalists to undergo mental evaluations as soon as they step foot in England. And interrogate them under Veritaserum. Obviously, Albus refused.
Alastor went off on another one of his rants:
"Albus, this is the first time it's ever happened to me! I ran out of everything: potions, artifacts, runestones, explosives! And that horned serpent, I was not prepared for it! Me! Not prepared! I was not vigilant enough! I'm sure Voldemort has more monsters! Albus, I pulled out the full list from the DMLE's historical archives! We must include all of them in the Auror training program! And the Order's!" shouted Moody, pacing around on the new prosthetic leg Albus made him.
Poor Alastor… Albus warned him about the harm of Dark Magic, but he replied "Just because you're paranoid, it does not necessarily mean you are not being watched." Alastor tried to only use Dark Magic as a last resort, so he got away with a simple obsession: "Everyone wants to kill me. Don't trust anyone!" If only people knew how much truth was in the "Mad-Eye" moniker…
Dumbledore looked at the book on monsters that went extinct thousands of years ago (not just in Europe, in the entire world) and with a weary sigh asked Moody to focus on real problems.
McGonagall suggested to sue the journalists for slander and demand a redaction. A much better idea.
Mundungus Fletcher disappeared. Albus was certain the man did not get injured during the battle. Now Albus would have to search for him, too.
Robert was the most irritating of them all:
"Honorable Chief Warlock, why haven't you used the killing curse on Voldemort? Why were you trying to stun him like he was a dragon? Why did you wound him with non-Dark spells, giving him an opportunity to heal himself? If you insist on calling him Voldemort, why did your last spell say Tom Riddle?"
Would this day end already… Albus wished he could blame Robert's mental state on that woman's Cruciatus, but no… Some others shared Robert's sentiment.
Albus was convinced Tom had horcruxes. Killing him was pointless. It made the most sense to capture him and find out the horcruxes' locations with legilimency. When he failed to capture Tom, he did try to kill him. Tom's shields proved just how powerful a Dark wizard he was. Albus, for obvious reasons, had problems with Dark Arts practice. He hardly trusted his skills in Dark Magic to breach Tom's defenses. The killing curse remained an option, but as Albus understood on the day of Ariana's death, killing curses tend to hit all the wrong people.
"Let's say I used the killing curse," Albus said. "Voldemort would have shielded from it with someone from the Order or one of his own people. Or pulled out some unfortunate soul from an expanded pocket. I don't believe we can defeat the Dark Lord with Dark Magic. We must emphasize and make use of what makes us different. We fight for all that is good, we confront death with life…" and more similar, appropriate words.
On the inside, Albus's thoughts were in turmoil over the disembodiment spell he so painstakingly created. The calculations were unequivocal: use the name given at birth. Tom Marvolo Riddle, everything was correct…
He continued his sermon about remembering what they were fighting for, what made them different from the enemy. In the light of dozens of casualties, it sounded… not terribly convincing.
Having given out the necessary praises and admonishments, Albus ended the meeting. His fingers habitually grasped the Time-Turner.
Dumbledore-1 was meeting with the Board of Governors.
Dumbledore-2 was helping heal the wounded at St. Mungo's.
Dumbledore-3 had Fawkes take him to the ICW.
Dumbledore-4 went to the Ministry to file papers.
Dumbledore-5 was charming new golems.
Dumbledore-6 took a nap.
Dumbledore-7 was listening to the tirade of his old friend Newt Scamander: "How could let them kill an Obscurial! Why haven't you stopped the Aurors?! It was a child!" It wasn't as if Albus could say it was Voldemort's experimental undead made of his sister…
Dumbledore-8 was analyzing the blood of Voldemort's horned serpent. No, he did not want to curse it through blood, and it would not work on such a highly magical animal anyway… By indirect signs, he determined the snake came from North America. He will have to file a complaint to the ICW. The Americans swore they shut down the breeding and keeping of these creatures! Further analysis showed the snake was a female and pregnant. Tom had completely lost his mind…
Dumbledore-9 was searching through the captive acromantulas' minds. And there was Hagrid in their memories. Understandable, a white zombie. Albus must warn everyone. He tried to determine the location of the spiders' new home by stars in their memories, but conjured clouds covered the sky. He would have to cross-reference the images of local flora and fauna…
Dumbledore-10 was watching everyone's memories of the fight in his pensive.
Dumbledore-11 was checking his spell for disembodying Tom and not finding any mistakes.
Dumbledore-12 was analyzing the ritual Tom showed him. Not a trick. Who could have guessed, he really measured it without human sacrifice. How uncharacteristic of Tom.
Dumbledore-13 was analyzing Tom's delimiter earrings. Why did he wear them? It was as stupid as trying to jump over a canyon in several consecutive jumps…
Dumbledore-14 was carefully reviewing Tom's spells and shields in the pensieve and struggled to understand what he was seeing. Especially these black snakes: it looked like the corrosive fog gained not only shape but something much greater… Advanced necromancy for such a mediocre spell? That would be like hammering nails with an omninocle! Albus saw only one option: however much he loathed it, he would have to go visit Gellert in his cell. The formerly powerful Dark wizard was a shell of his old self. Only shards of magic and awareness remained, but his memory was still intact. Legilimency, then…
Dumbledore-15 was searching for Aberforth with an experimental ritual. Again nothing…
Dumbledore-16 was trying to locate Voldemort's concentration camp. No success… But it was not the end: the Death Eaters killed so much and so often that the place would soon rival Aztec pyramids in ambient magic. He will find them, and they will pay for everything.
Several subjective days later, a single Dumbledore sat down in his office. Face scrunched from headache, he was alternating between petting Fawkes, rubbing his temples and chasing mounds of sweets with Pepperup. Something wasn't quite right, something about his meeting with Tom bothered him…
Everything looked as it always has, the same sick bastard… But the intuition kept itching…
Something very subtle changed. And it was not just the ritual Tom was under. His magic… his Dark magic was not strong enough. Or rather, it was very strong, but only in the energy volume. Those five black lightning from each finger… Why not use a single stronger one? It was the bare basics: if the enemy has powerful defenses, you must concentrate the energy, hit with a fist rather than an open palm. Did Tom suddenly forget how to fight? But he focused his elemental attacks normally!
There had been a lot of Avadas and Crucios flying his way. Unfortunately, some passed his transfigured objects and kept going. The victims of Avadas could not be questioned, but he easily gathered people's memories of being hit with Tom's Cruciatus. And for some reason that Cruciatus was very lackluster. Even some Death Eaters cruciated better…
And Tom himself… He had not laughed once during the entire battle! Not even when he peeled poor Elvin down to a skeleton…
Albus reviewed old memories of Voldemort, both his own and Moody's. He looked exactly the same, just as casually stepping over corpses… But something kept Albus on edge…
Voldemort did not argue "my name is not Tom," and it used to always annoy him… During the mental battle, he did not notice Albus's conjured images of the horrible life at the orphanage…
Tom never gave a damn about his followers. But today all of them were protected with dragon blood on par with their Lord. Tom took care of someone!
And he did not deny some things are worse than death… Well, it was obvious- the dementor's kiss, for example. But why on earth has Tom suddenly seen the light?
And their mental clash? He dug up Albus's past, pressured him with family… Kidnapped Aberforth in advance…
And in the end Tom used an Expelliarmus! No, the logic was sound: method A failed, try method B. But Tom had always scorned all magic except Dark…
And why did he not conjure an Antipatronus? It would have been very useful! To think of it, when did Tom last use one? Albus looked through newspaper clippings. Voldemort's Antipatronus was last seen over four months ago… But maybe there were no surviving witnesses? Antipatronus changed and he didn't want to show it? Why? And he had a different wand… Searching for a more powerful one, ideally the Elder Wand? By the way, if Expelliarmus worked, it could not have been made of bone- it was only a bone case.
Without doubt, Voldemort's words were not to be trusted. But he had not once mentioned blood purity! And how he was speaking of muggles: muggles used their chance for progress where the wizards failed. Tom never said anything positive about muggles, never acknowledged their accomplishments…
Albus's head felt like a boiling over cauldron. How to explain all of this? He would have entertained the idea of an impostor, but… Who would replace one amoral monster with another? How and why? How would that help anything? Besides, if someone looked like Voldemort, acted like Voldemort, then it was Voldemort. No need to create extra personas. The Dark Mark hasn't changed, and it was a reliable indicator tied directly to his soul.
If anything, Tom resembled himself in the past: still terrible, but not quite deranged. Could it be that he managed to clean up his soul? But how? Creating a horcrux damaged the soul irreparably, Albus was absolutely certain! And removal of Dark Magic traces was tied to the soul itself! In his youth, Gellert had done extensive calculations and came to the same conclusion. Tom had no horcruxes? Albus's evidence was indirect but undeniable.
Has Tom really found a safe path in the Dark Arts? Even if it were true, it wouldn't change anything. Dumbledore was thinking and thinking… Herpo the Foul grew stronger after he created a horcrux. Was it possible that the changes in Tom stemmed from a new horcrux? Definitely. Having killed the Potters, he could have created another to mock the prophecy. Tom always loved symbolism… How many horcruxes did he have? Two? Ten?!
In any case, Albus's enemy was incredibly dangerous. He had to visit Flamel right away… Right after one more urgent task.
The Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, Order of Merlin (first class), Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards, founder of the Order of the Phoenix, owner of the Elder Wand and the Invisibility Cloak, two Hallows out of three, student of Nicholas Flamel was lamenting he no longer had the Mirror of Erised. He laid down the fresh flowers and silently stood over Ariana's empty grave.
"Forgive me, today I killed you again… "