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November 1994
Ministry of Magic
Dumbledore steeled his face with a calm expression and looked around.
Having no other option, Dumbledore had to come clean.
"Mr. Flamel; as many of you are already aware of is a dear friend of mine," said Dumbledore. "And I was… or am currently doing some research in field of alchemy."
"We met just before the beginning of the school year at Hogwarts, and I expressed to him that I needed some help…some help for my alchemy research, which required the philosopher's stone assistance."
This caused a small murmur among the members of the Wizengamot. Any thing which required the help of the philosopher's stone would be no small thing. Everyone was intrigued about the research Dumbledore was conducting.
"Considering our decades old relationship, Mr. Flamel was willing to help me," said Dumbledore.
He continued, "In the meantime, while I brought the stone with me, a certain news reached me... a news about a wraith vying the stone."
"Technically, this is nothing new as there is no lack of individuals who are willing to go to great lengths to get the stone... but my sources told me that this time the threat is real."
Dumbledore face was calm and serene, "To check whether what I was told is really true or not, I deliberately leaked the news of stone's presence in one of the safest place of the Wizarding Britain, Gringotts."
Realisation struck the members while Dumbledore continued, "Now as you all can remember... this individual was really capable."
"The individual was actually able to breach the security of Gringotts," announced Dumbledore, confirming what everyone was thinking.
"Having ascertained that the threat is real, I had two choices to either keep the stone hidden while the threat would have continued or to confront the threat... to lure him and eliminate him permanently. I chose the second option."
He was about to continue when Andromeda giggled, "You are quite funny, Albus Dumbledore."
"Now you would say that you announced to the whole world about the philosopher's stoen, so that you could bait the wraith… yet your traps were so weak that even Lord Harry Potter in his first year had the stone in his hands."
This statement brough the entire Wizengamot to a standstill. Harry Potter had the legendary stone in his hands?
"Can you please explain, what are you talking about, Mrs. Tonks?" enquired Madam Marchbanks.
Andromeda smiled, "Why not?"
With this she began the tale from the beginning to the end. It included Harry's broom going out of control and him doubting Snape for it… doubting Snape for trying to steal 'whatever' was on the third floor… but ultimately finding Quirrell possessed by a wraith in the end and Quirrell death.
The entire hall was in stunned silence. The silence was broken by Minerva's flare of magic and her angry shout, "Dumbledore… you… you told us that the wraith had escaped and though Quirrell was injured he would live."
She questioned with a disbelieving look, "You hid a death in Hogwarts?"
Amelia remarked sarcastically, "It seems that Dumbledore's prestige is nothing but air… every protection he creates is breached as if they are thin threads."
Dumbledore's expression did not even falter, "You may think that everything, I said or did is some big conspiracy."
He turned towards Andromeda, "But I believe, Mrs. Tonks that you would not be that foolish to say that the breach of Gringotts was a hoax."
He smirked, "You would not be too foolish to say that goblins were part of my conspiracy."
He continued, his voice a note higher, "For a person who breached the security of Goblins, tell me what kind of trap would have held him?"
He continued, his presence dominating, "The traps were never meant to hold the intruder. It was just a means to lure him into the final stage.... to give him a false sense of complacency."
"I myself was the final stage," boomed Dumbledore his magic running rampant in the hall but still not out of his control.
He chuckled, "As for, Lord Potter..." his tone mocking, "I would say two things."
"It was at his own accord and his mindless doubts of Snape trying to steal whatever was at the 3rd floor that he entered the traps. I did not asked or forced him to do so."
"Even if Snape or someone else was trying to steal something, it was not his job to go after him. He was supposed to be sleeping in his dormitory. He broke rules... broke what I had prohibited and yet someone I am the conspirator."
He mocked, "Or maybe even now, Mrs. Tonks would say that I conspired so big that Harry Potter had to walk in the traps."
"Secondly, Harry Potter never held the philosopher's stone... it was a false replica... the stone was forever in my pockets."
He announced, "No doubt, what plans I had did not happen exactly that way... but you cannot pin all the blame on me."
He chuckled, "I don't understand what wild one's imagination must be to link all this to a huge conspiracy I planned just to harm Harry Potter."
"Do the world really thinks me of such a fool that for 14 years, I have planned such big conspiracies and yet everytime Harry Potter comes unscathed?" Questioned Dumbledore.
"What aim could I have? Maybe to kill him? To harm him... why would I deliberate such measures? Why can't I have used direct methods? What was stopping me?"
Silence ensued in the hall while Dumbledore stood tall gazing at everyone with magic flickering in his eyes.
It was during these kinds of moments when the world understood why was Dumbledore called to be among the strongest wizard to ever live. His mere presence inspired awe among the weaker wizards.
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