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HP - Chapter 318: A Shocking Revelation
🕑 Added 2024-08-23 07:43:09 +0000 UTCDisclaimer: Harry Potter and all of its characters belong to J.K. Rowling. I own nothing but the original characters I create.
“Dialogue”
‘Thoughts’
-Author notes-
Chapter 318: A Shocking Revelation
A loud knock was heard all of a sudden.
It surprised the two other occupants of the room, as they weren’t expecting any more visitors.
But the Headmaster knew exactly who it was.
“Come in,” he said.
“Mister Potter?” Professor McGonagall looked at Harry with wide eyes. It was very unusual for a student to visit the Headmaster directly.
If a professor had any issue with a student, they would first have to go through the Head of House, and she certainly hadn’t received any messages concerning Harry Potter.
“Potter…” Snape narrowed his eyes. The mere sight of this boy already soured his mood, and this year had been bad enough on the first day.
“Oops…should I come later?” Harry asked the Headmaster.
Dumbledore stared at him for a moment. He knew that Harry wouldn’t appear unannounced unless he had a good reason.
“No…we were already done with this meeting, just wait a bit.”
“Albus, we were not done. That woman is talking about re-implementing a lot of medieval rules in our school, like physical punishments!. We have to do something!” McGonagall exclaimed.
“I’ll see what I can do, Minerva…but for the moment, just try to keep your head down and don’t give her any excuses to make trouble for you.” Dumbledore knew this wouldn’t satisfy the other professor, but for now, it would have to do.
McGonagall was still not completely aware of how tied his hands were already.
There was nothing he could do…at least not legally.
“Fine…let’s leave it here…for now.” McGonagall stood up and prepared to leave.
Harry was waiting near the door and noticed the inquisitive look on his Head of House’s face as she passed by.
“Then…I presume my presence is no longer needed either.” Snape stood up from his chair.
Harry closed the door.
“No, I want you to stay. We may need your assistance in this.”
“Excuse me?...” Snape stared at Harry in disbelief.
“Are you giving me orders, you arrogant boy?!”
“Severus, calm down…I’m sure Harry was merely making a polite request.” Dumbledore tried to placate the professor.
Harry took the seat that had been left vacant by Professor McGonagall.
“You might want to sit down for this.”
Snape frowned. He had been trying very hard not to snap at Harry, just because he didn’t want to ruin his relationship with Lily, now that they were talking again.
The best way he found to accomplish this was to completely ignore Harry...or at least as much as he could, given that he was a professor. But the boy wasn’t making it easy.
“You!....”
“Voldemort is inside Hogwarts,” Harry stated.
Dumbledore almost fell to the ground and had to grab his desk for support.
“I told you to sit down,” Harry added.
“Are you crazy?! Don’t say that name! Is this your idea of a prank?” Snape finally lost his calm.
“And Umbridge is a Death Eater,” Harry added.
“What?!” Snape shouted.
“Maybe I should have opened with that…” Harry pondered.
“Harry…how can this be? Please, explain it a bit better…” Dumbledore managed to sit back down.
“Headmaster, you can’t be taking him seriously, right? The boy is obviously making things up. His father was known for his ridiculous pranks.” Snape tried to make him see reason.
“Severus, I understand your point of view, but…I assure you that Harry’s information is always reliable. More than you can imagine.” Dumbledore gave him a knowing look.
Snape’s eyes widened as he realized something.
“Don’t tell me it’s him!” He pointed at Harry.
“This is the mysterious source that you always refuse to reveal during the Order meetings?!”
“Mysterious source?” Harry tilted his head.
“Yes, Severus…there is more to Harry Potter than I could explain at the moment. I never revealed this to you because I knew how you would react…I would appreciate it if you kept this information to yourself.” Dumbledore told him.
Snape was staring at Harry now. He could never have imagined that the mysterious informant who had been helping the Order of the Phoenix was none other than James Potter’s son.
“You…” Snape muttered. “I knew there was something strange about you. Who are you really?!” Snape demanded to know.
“Now is really not the time for that…” Harry said.
“He is correct, Severus. Harry…tell me…when did you see him? Tell us all the details.” Dumbledore leaned forward on his desk.
“Here’s the thing…he’s not here in person. I believe he is controlling some sort of magical construct,” Harry clarified.
“A construct? You mean like a golem?” Dumbledore asked.
“Something like that…remember when I told you that Rookwood was dead? Well, I was right…he is definitely dead,” Harry said.
“Dead? What is he talking about?” Snape had never heard about this.
Dumbledore, however, had an idea of what Harry was implying.
“You don’t mean that…”
“Yes…if you remove the soul from a person, you are left with something that is neither completely alive nor dead…a vessel to be filled by something else,” Harry explained.
“Right…that could be possible…” Dumbledore began to consider this possibility.
“You believe he put a fragment of himself in that vessel?” That would create something akin to a living Horcrux.
“No.” Harry immediately dismissed that possibility.
He didn’t think Voldemort would have recalled all of his soul pieces just to fragment his soul again and put them in living vessels.
That would make him even more vulnerable than before.
“I think he found a way to create a connection with the construct. I just don’t know if he is directly controlling it or merely giving it orders like I would with one of my golems,” Harry said.
“Mmm…regardless of that, we cannot have something so dangerous inside the school,” Dumbledore said.
Snape was feeling a bit lost, but from what he understood, he had to agree with the Headmaster. Anything connected with the Dark Lord should be immediately removed from the school premises.
“Let’s not be so hasty. I don’t think that puppet is an immediate danger to the students,” Harry said.
“How can you be so sure?”
“That’s why I had to speak with Umbridge before coming here…I couldn’t get any information from the construct…but I did get some interesting things from the toad….Let me tell you about it.”
