"Partly because I didn't like the way he is always looking down his nose at me and partly because I wanted to see if I could." Harry told the Headmaster, taking his attention off the portrait for a moment.
"Why would you want to confine the people in the portraits to their frames, Mr. Potter?" Dumbledore asked.
"Because I'm tired of being spied on by you through them." Harry told him. "I don't know if the other students have figured out how you always know what's going on but I did. I had a lot of time to think in Azkaban, when the Dementors weren't trying to drive me crazy."
"I do not use the portraits to spy on the students, or anyone else for that matter." Dumbledore denied.
The expression on Harry's face told the Headmaster he was not believed, even before he said, "Pull the other one, it's got bells on it."
"Harry, please release Phineas." Dumbledore requested, earning himself another death glare from the young man opposite him.
Turning his attention back to the man in the portrait, Harry said, "Hear me, Nigellus. I expect you to pass the word to the other portraits in this school. If any of you try and spy on me, I will confine all of you to the frames you are currently in. Is that clear?"
"You can't stop us from watching over Hogwarts and those within her." Phineas countered haughtily.
"I intend no harm to Hogwarts or those within her as long as they leave me alone." Harry countered icily. "I suggest you remember that and if you want to have an idea of what I can do to your kind, I suggest you go to Grimmauld Place and take a look at the portrait of Sirius' mother."
"Mr Potter, do not threaten the portraits with harm." Dumbledore warned him.
Harry gave him a sour look. "As long as they stay out of my business, they won't have to worry about what I might or might not do."
Before the situation could get completely out of his control, Dumbledore brought up the matter he had wanted to speak to Harry about. "Mr. Potter, I asked you here to request that you remove the curse you placed on Miss Granger, without making her swear that oath you wrote."
"No."
"Why do you want to cut Miss Granger out of your life?" Dumbledore wanted to know. "She is your friend…"
"Was." Harry interrupted. "She was my friend. She is no longer and will never be again."
"Harry, you can't let this anger consume you." Dumbledore began. "That is part of what lead Voldemort down the Dark road he travelled. We all want to help you work through your anger, but you have to let us in before the healing can begin. You shouldn't cut yourself off from those you once called friends. Angry and alone is no way for anyone to live."
"I've been alone all my life," Harry countered. "Why should the future be any different?"
Dumbledore sighed, knowing he was responsible for Harry's feeling like he had always been alone. Hindsight as the muggles had a habit of saying is always twenty/twenty. He'd never understood that until now. Now when he looked back, he could see all the mistakes he had made with young Harry, when at the time he had thought it was the best for all concerned, including young Harry Potter. He regretted his choice of leaving Harry with the Dursleys but it had been the only way of keeping him safe, even though he knew they wouldn't love him. No, if he were honest with himself even though he knew they would hate him. He had believed that once Harry arrived among his own kind that they could make up for what Harry hadn't gotten from the Dursleys, but that hadn't quite worked out the way he'd planned either.
Shaking his head slightly, Dumbledore returned to the topic at hand. "Harry…"
"Potter." The tone of the young man's voice warned him not to use his given name again.
"Miss Granger made mistakes." The Headmaster tried again. "She is trying to make up for them."
"How? By poking her nose into my private business?" Harry couldn't believe the old man was this dense. "I told her to keep her nose out of my business and I would be civil to her as long as it concerned school matters. But noooo, Miss Know-It-All has to know everything, even when it isn't her business. I gave her two more warnings, when she crossed the line, but she still couldn't seem to get it through her head, not to poke her damn nose in my business. Now she is learning her lesson and once she has sworn her oath on Friday, I will return what was taken from her. I won't have to worry about dealing with her attempts to regain my friendship any more because her own oath will keep her in check and if it doesn't then she can just return to the muggle world."
"Potter, we lost too many witches and wizards during both of Voldemort's reigns of terror." Dumbledore pointed out calmly. "We can't afford to lose a young witch of Miss Granger's calibre. Please reconsider the terms of the oath you want her to swear."
"No."
"Why do you want to drive her from our world?"
"I don't care whether she leaves your world or not." Harry felt pleased at the disappointed look on Dumbledork's face. Get used to it old man. This time I'm the one in charge, not you. "I noticed a long time ago, that you have to practically hit Granger in the head with a brick, to get something she doesn't want to think about driven home. Well this is my brick and from now on any time she thinks about coming near me, that brick will be beating her over the head, reminding her of what it will cost her if she does."
"There are easier ways to get your point across." Dumbledore pointed out. "Miss Granger is an intelligent and reasonable young woman."
The expression on Harry's face was one of disbelief. "Easier ways to get the point across to the witch who is still trying to free house elves, even though she has been told repeatedly by them they don't want to be free and that if they are freed that they will die. Do you know that to the House elves, she is Voldemort . They speak of her with fear in their voices, calling Granger "Her" and "She".
They avoid her like the plague. She's been told repeatedly to give it up that she is causing more harm than good and that she is terrorising the House elves, but will she give it up… noooooooooo. She thinks she knows better than everybody else what's best for the House elves and she is acting the same way towards me. I told her to leave me alone, unless it concerned school business, but has she… nooooo.
That is not intelligence it is pigheadedness. Well she has brought this on herself and now she will pay for what she has done. I will not alter one word of that oath. If she doesn't want to swear it, then send her home, because I doubt she will be of much use to the wizarding world, unless you want to turn her into a brood mare, and I think if you tried that, you and whoever was her husband would soon live to regret it."
"Is there anything that can be done to change your mind?" Dumbledore wanted to know.
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