[Albus Dumbledore]
"What a nice morning…" I mumbled, sitting on my sofa, still in my pajamas and holding a cup of still-hot coffee. I felt like I had just woken up from the best sleep of my life.
'Sssssiiiiippppp~' I sipped my coffee extremely loudly, just because I could. My actions seemed to have angered the world, though, as I felt the door to my office open and a student enter, accompanied by a black dog…
"Good morning, Professor…" the student, now identified as Harriet Potter, mumbled sleepily. "Sorry for the intrusion, Professor, but my dog-father couldn't wait…" she said sheepishly before sending a glare towards the black dog.
Said dog was currently shifting back into a human form, revealing Sirius Black in all his glory—or, more accurately, wearing pajama bottoms and a half-closed cotton shirt.
"Dumbledore, don't you have some explaining to do??" was the first thing he said, if you ignored his loud voice.
"Good morning to you too, Sirius. Would you like some coffee?" I answered him sarcastically, making him furrow his eyebrows a little before he took a deep breath to calm himself down.
"Dumbledore, what is this I hear about Voldemort living inside her head?" he asked again, ignoring my invitation, though this time his tone was more calm and collected.
"Oh, that's what you wanted to know. Couldn't you have waited like three more hours instead of being in my office at six in the morning?" I shook my head disapprovingly. "You know we are obligated to report any and all injuries to the kids' magical guardians…"
Harriet was looking at her feet as if she was seeing them for the first time. She was embarrassed about something, and I could guess why she'd feel like that; the girl was barely awake, not properly dressed nor ready for such a meeting. Though I could also be wrong, I don't speak teenage girl after all.
If I had to guess, Sirius used some kind of secret entrance to get in, sneaked into her dorm room, and probably 'blackmailed' his goddaughter to get him here… I could be wrong, but somehow, I find that theory believable, and more likely.
"It doesn't matter, I want to know what exactly happened and how?" Sirius, ever the stubborn mule, just kept repeating himself. I think the only reason he hasn't drawn his wand is because his instincts are warning him against such an action.
"Sigh, look how old you are and still have no patience." I leaned back in my seat as I summoned my Archive, drawing the curious glances of Harriet, along with the scrunched-face, suspicious looks of Sirius.
'You'd think he'd trust his savior more, but no,' I thought, but I couldn't really blame him. I had seen how much he'd done to defend his goddaughter over the years, so I would forgive him for now.
I had no doubt that by now, he had most likely cast every scanning spell he knew on her, just to make sure she was not being influenced by anything.
"Come, extend your wand and touch the screen. I will send you the memory directly. You two can view it while I go take a shower," I said, gesturing for them to get closer and do what I said.
Sirius, of course, didn't allow Harriet to touch the Archive; he just stood in front of her and went ahead to try it first. I didn't bother waiting, though. As soon as I gave him access and sent the relative information, I closed the interface and stood up.
Harriet could have her Archive later, with the rest of her fellow students.
"Anyway, since you have interrupted my quiet morning, I will be going to get ready. You are welcome to stay here while you review the information on how and what happened," I told them as I started walking away.
"Of course, whatever you learn had better stay with you. And this is not a request." I stopped, looked back at them, my eyes landing on Sirius. I saw him stiffen a little, so I knew he understood the warning. Thus, I continued on my way up the stairs.
I had a shower to enjoy and things to prepare for…
[Sirius Black]
He staggered slightly and fell onto the chair. Dumbledore's warning look gave him goosebumps all over his body.
The fact that Dumbledore was far stronger than him had never been clearer—and he had seen him take out the monsters with one spell.
'That look… it felt like he was standing in front of a higher being.'
"Come on, mutt, let's go…" Harriet, his goddaughter, shook his shoulder, snapping him out of his reverie.
"Wait a second, let me see what this thing is and what he sent me," Sirius muttered as he started poking around the screen that appeared in front of him.
He didn't have to do anything other than click on the big, glowing, gift-like icon before finding the information he was looking for.
"Is this it?" he heard Harriet, who was standing behind him, mutter as she rested her head on his shoulder.
"Hmm," he hummed in reply.
As soon as he touched the small, square-like icon, a video started to play. It was similar to how pensive memories appeared when reviewed, so he started watching.
It started with Dumbledore confirming that Voldemort was still alive and possessing a stray, fighting him, and exhausting himself…
"Is this what happened that day? The one we read about in the papers?" Harriet whispered.
"Hmmm, I think so," he replied as he continued to watch.
Then there was his search for the Horcruxes—what they are, and where he found them, though he only showed the location of the locket that was in his house. And wasn't that an unwelcome surprise.
He didn't know how to feel about that. Angry? But at what? At the man that broke into his house without him even finding out?
Guilt? But why? Because he hadn't noticed anything before? Because he was unintentionally an accessory to prolonging Voldemort's life? Because he had put his goddaughter in danger without knowing?
Maybe Relief? At the fact that this thing was not in his house anymore? Or maybe he should just feel Sad and depressed? At least that was one thing that would end up with him having a fun time with his wife when she tried to cheer him up…
Still, he couldn't deny that he was feeling all those and plenty more, but the video didn't pause, so he figured he'd think about what to feel later.
Then there was the scene where Dumbledore destroyed all the Horcruxes together, which led to Harriet receiving a backlash by association.
'Yeah, if a piece of soul was right next to mine, I'd be receiving a backlash too,' he understood. Souls were a very delicate and forbidden topic of magical research for a good reason after all.
Then there was the scene where Dumbledore appeared in front of Harriet after finding out, quickly figuring the situation out and helping her.
As he continued to watch, Sirius found out that he could honestly say, in all his years, he had never felt prouder. Nonetheless, if watching his goddaughter throwing dung bombs and prank spells at Voldemort gave him a warm, soothing tingly feeling inside, then watching Voldemort being mauled by a pack of lions was downright therapeutic for his very soul.
'By Merlin, I feel so proud of her,' he thought as he leaned back, the interface going back to its default settings.
He'd have to check this thing out later…
"Okay, now that we have seen me be all badass, let's get out. I need to go back and get ready," Harriet swatted his shoulder and said. "Plus, I still have to tell Auntie Amelia about what you did today…"
He felt a shiver go down his spine when he heard that.
"We don't really need to tell her about everything, do we?" he sprang up from the chair and started to quickly walk, following after his goddaughter. "I mean, we can leave the sneaking into the girl's dormitory and the implied threats and blackmail parts out of the story, right?"
"I don't know about that…" Harriet said, dragging out the last part of the sentence a little, eyes glinting with mischief. "I mean, you kind of forced me to take you into the headmaster's office at six in the morning, forced me to use the confusion spell on the statue guarding said office, all while I was wearing only my school robe on top of my sleeping gown, so…"
Okay, he could see where he went wrong. But he also wasn't in his best state of mind. He was sleep-deprived because what Harriet told him last night had been stewing in his mind, forcing him to go through everything he knew about the mind, possessions, and all the dark-related magic that the Black library offered. He couldn't sleep, he couldn't think, and his anxiety and worry were increasing by the minute.
"Yeah, okay. I get it. I am sorry, okay?" he said. "How about you cut to the chase and tell me what you want, and I will get it for you."
He knew she wanted something when he saw that glint in her eyes…
"I don't know…" Harriet said. "I mean, the new Firebolt could maybe buy my silence for a while, but you know, Aunt Amelia didn't allow me to get one, soo…"
"Don't worry about that," Sirius readily agreed. "I will take care of it." He promised, getting a smirk from her.
"Oh, how nice of you…" she smirked.
He didn't like that smirk; that smirk promised pain.
And so he accompanied his goddaughter until they arrived at the dormitory entrance, but by then, he was already feeling regret… this girl was going to be the death of him.
X_
[Albus Dumbledore]
"How pleasant…" I mumbled as I stepped out of the shower, feeling refreshed and ready for work.
Heading towards my wardrobe, I opened it and started thinking about what to wear today. My eyes landed on a grey pinstriped suit that looked quite stylish, a high-quality wool blend fabric, in a mid-grey tone, with fine stripes of a slightly darker charcoal color.
'Hmm, yeah, let's go with this,' I thought as I took the suit out of the closet, throwing it onto the bed, before opening the drawer to get some underwear and closing the wooden wardrobe.
Soon I found myself standing in front of the mirror, admiring how I looked, but there was something still missing. I had the handkerchief, the tie, the belt, the watch, the shoes and everything on but… "Hmmm, maybe a fedora?" I asked myself.
I wanted the fedora. Still, I didn't want to wear it while in the castle, so I transfigured it into a pen and put it in my pocket. That way I could just reverse the transfiguration later and put it on…
With everything done, I walked out of my room, down the stairs and into my office. I sat down in my chair and took a parchment out of the first drawer before I started scribbling on it.
I wanted to list out what I hoped to accomplish today as well as the rest of the week.
'I could use my Archive to do that instead,' I remembered as I was halfway through writing the menial tasks I had to do today. The only exciting things I had lined up were the lecture I promised to give and maybe answering the ICW summons, which would no doubt arrive in a few hours.
I burned the parchment and vanished the ashes as I leaned back in my seat, summoned my Archive interface, and started fiddling with it.
I needed to set small goals for myself so that I didn't start to spiral so soon. So, first things first, I needed to figure out what kind of mind magic I should practice and add to my repertoire, something that complements and helps me. I already have a degree of 'thought acceleration' thanks to my Archmage essence, though I had to will it to keep it active most of the time.
What I needed to do was figure out how to create more than one parallel thought, how to go about making telepathy and telekinesis, or more accurately, how to upgrade my Legilimency and change my wandless magic levitation into an actual new branch of mind magic.
Then there's the clone issue. I could think of so many ways to go about this, but each idea had its own set of problems. Like the shadow clone, for example; if I wanted to create it, I would have to create chakra, which was a somewhat easy task with my Archmage essence. The problem with this, though, is that I would be introducing a new power system into an already destabilized world.
Most people would think it's easy to just create and use different magical systems in different worlds, which might be true in some cases but also not so much at the same time.
If I created chakra, for example, I would be the progenitor of this system in the eyes of the world, something akin to a god when it came to setting the rules and limitations of the energy.
This would have been good, too good actually, if it was any other time when the world is not in its current state.
I knew for a fact that DxD had some discount Naruto chakra and sage arts, but if I introduced a better chakra system, then it was more than likely that the new merged world would adapt it as its own because it was better and more efficient.
Sure, the use of spiritual and physical arts and energy as a stand-alone would most likely remain, but I couldn't guarantee that the chakra system they would all use wouldn't be the one I created.
'World merger isn't a joke,' I thought seriously. 'It's the process of different worlds combining; that means all the information of these worlds will be merging together, and any inefficient and redundant information will get erased or changed.'
Besides, I didn't know if the DxD world that's merging with us was the same one I watched; it could be one where devils are assholes or where the protagonist is dead… I can't be reckless about stuff like this, as I might be empowering my enemy.
'I need to start figuring out how to shield myself from reality, history, and conceptual manipulation too,' I thought as I added this point in bold black letters in my Archive.
Still, I put the chakra thing on hold for now. The other clone method I came up with was a thought projection, a solid illusionary clone that could be manipulated in real-time, but that too needed me to get a lot better at illusions.
'I think I will have more time to mess with my ideas in a few weeks, so I could come up with different things then,' I decided as I added a few points to the memo I had opened in my Archive interface.
"All of this depends on me getting the time to study and experiment," I mumbled as I looked away from the golden interface, "and I have a feeling that I wouldn't have the time for that if I kept answering the calls of every Tom, Dick, and Harry. I am certain that the ICW will convene and get every old wizard in that farce of a council to try to question and/or limit me because I skipped all the bureaucratic bullshit when I activated the war state preparation…"
I could just ignore the summons; I was the Supreme Mugwump, for god's sake, but if I am right then the Flamels would be there, so I kind of have to go if I wanted to get two birds with one stone.
"Tempus," I chanted lightly, checking the time. It was six forty-five in the morning, and breakfast wouldn't start until seven-fifteen.
I had a half hour to waste, so what did I do? It wasn't enough to start any worthwhile research on magic, so that was out, and looking at the stack of papers I had on my desk here, they too wouldn't be finished any time soon, so…
And that's when it hit me: could I go and get Gellert out in under thirty minutes?… now that was a proper challenge…
X_
I stood up and went back to my room, just so that the portraits wouldn't know what I would do. I took the pen out of my pocket, shook it a little, and watched as it reverted to its past state—the fedora.
I put it on my head as I self-transfigured myself for disguise, and Apparated directly outside the wards of the Nurmengard Castle in the Austrian Alps. I threw a few concealment spells on myself as I started to walk towards the castle, slipping past the marking, identification, and alarm wards with ease.
It wasn't the first time I had come here after all; the old Dumbledore had visited this place twice: once when he handled Gellert's imprisonment, and once more about sixteen years ago when he consoled him about the prophecy.
I went inside, slipping past the guard, as I made sure to cast a minor compulsion on him—a small thing for him to go about his day and not notice anything suspicious. It's one of the best ways when it came to infiltration because it required so little magic and left the rest of the work to the victim's brain. I did the same thing again when I came across any guard or prisoner on my way towards the highest tower, where Gellert's cell was located.
While the prison was not as dreadful as Azkaban, it was not by any means less safe; in fact, I believed it to be safer than Azkaban. It was the reason why the ICW used it as one of the primary locations to hold international prisoners.
My walk soon came to a halt as I finally arrived in front of a big, black door, with only a small enchanted window that fit a plate of food at most.
'Now, how do I go about not alerting all these wards plastered on the door?' I thought as I stood atop the stairs that led to the cell. This place was tiny…
A certain daring idea came to mind, so I started to very subtly release magic, making sure not to go beyond the threshold of Lumos or a Levitation Charm to not tip off the magic detection wards.
Once I had enough magic to manipulate, I started to weave a very subtle temporary enchantment over the door, for the single purpose of delaying the reaction of the alarm wards as well as erasing all traces of magic. It was a very subtle, double-layered enchantment that I had picked up while examining the Room of Requirement's rune stone.
"Archmage really makes one overpowered," I mused as I opened the cell door with a simple 'Alohomora' and watched with fascination as my enchantment worked in real-time to delay the alarms.
I strutted inside like I owned the place and conjured a seat for myself, an action that jolted Gellert awake.
"Your senses haven't dulled yet, I see," I commented as I sat down.
"Albus, what a nice surprise. I didn't expect you to visit me after the last time," an aged man with heterochromatic eyes stared back at me with mirth, amusement, and more than a little bit of confusion.
The man in question was old with a wrinkled face, a hunched back, and looked very disheveled. His grey hair was dirty, his clothes were worn out, and his overall appearance spoke of long suffering—a stark contrast from the sharp man I remember.
"Yeah, well, things changed," I replied simply as I made myself comfortable.
"So what brings you to me, old friend? All disguised too, for that matter. If I didn't know you any better, I would say you are here to get me out," Gellert chuckled a little as he sat himself straight. Or as straight as an old man's back could get.
"Ah, but that's the fun part, though; I am here to get you out," now it was my turn to chuckle as I watched his face gain a subtle frown that conveyed his confusion.
Until now, he'd been operating under the assumption that I was Dumbledore, simply because he sensed my magic, and one's magic was a very hard thing to disguise.
I let all the magic cast on me dissolve, my self-transfiguration spell melting away as I returned to my original shape and form.
Gellert's eyes widened as he saw my appearance before he started laughing maniacally. "So it was true after all," he mumbled.
I didn't know what he was referring to, but I didn't care either. "So, how have you been?" I finally asked, not really inquiring about his physical condition.
"Much better than before," he replied, understanding what I was asking. "I am almost taint-free yet find myself filled with so much self-loathing..."
"So you finally figured out where you went wrong?" I smirked at him, getting a deadpan expression in return.
"Yeah, I should not have stopped doing my periodic purification rituals when I did. That was my hubris." He answered, and I couldn't help but blink at his answer.
That was not what I had asked, but he still had a good point, so I let it go.
"Okay, let's stop with our usual song and dance and start talking about why I am actually here," I finally said, getting his attention back on me.
"Do enlighten me, please," he replied, a hint of sarcasm in his tone, but I let it go. He had been imprisoned for so long; he gets a pass.
"Well, I am here to get you out of here and make you serve the rest of your five-hundred-year sentence in a more active role," I revealed, making him blink his eyes rapidly for a few seconds as if processing the information before snorting at me.
"And why, pray tell, would I choose that? I only have a few years left to live, so why would I want to prolong my suffering with whatever it is that you have cooked up?"
"Because I asked you to?" I answered sarcastically, getting a look of haughty derision from him. "But also because I have an offer that I know you can't refuse."
"Ah, there it is. The arrogance of Albus Dumbledore," he said with a smile that was closer to a smirk than an actual smile. "You already think that I have forgiven you and will go with whatever your plan is…"
"Because you did, and you are," I stated with a straight face, which made the smirk he had fall away as he closed his eyes.
He took a few shallow breaths before he opened his eyes and looked at me. "You didn't enter my mind," he stated with absolute certainty in his voice.
"I didn't need to. Your soul is all the evidence I need," I informed him, a serene smile on my face. "That, coupled with the fact that I was never wrong in the first place, should have clued you in instead of stating the obvious."
"You weren't wrong?" he asked, a slight edge in his voice. "How can you not be wrong? You left me, you opposed me, even when we had an oath not to."
I just gave him a deadpan stare, which he tried to meet with his fake angry look before cracking.
"You know why I did that, though, don't you? At least now you understand why you lost."
"Yeah, I was too weak, too stubborn, and too prideful," Gellert said. "Pride comes before the fall, indeed." He then added with a peaceful smile.
"Eh, not really what I was thinking," I told him. "Sure, those were all factors in your fall, but there's also the fact that you lost sight of your original goal. Your use of dark magic got your mind so clouded that you didn't even realize what you were doing wrong. That, coupled with the fact that you committed some heinous acts against magic, is how you doomed yourself."
Gellert stared at me for a few seconds without blinking before he burst out laughing. "So you're saying my goal was easily achievable, but I just couldn't see it, is that it?"
"Not all of it, but basically, yes," I nodded, making him frown. "You got so lost in your pursuit of power that you doomed yourself by your own hand."
"Sigh, there's no point in thinking about this now, so just tell me what you want and let me be," Gellert sighed and muttered, though I heard him perfectly.
"Well, I am here to offer you access to my new magic, heal you of all your ailments, and set you free, in return for your service," I told him. "Think of this as a conditional release; you get to be free, but you also have to work for the remainder of your sentence."
"I don't really have a choice, do I?" he asked, getting a soft smile from me as an answer.
"Fine, but at least make me younger too while you're at it," he relented. "Watching you sitting there, all young and handsome, is making me very envious."
"Ah, that's the problem. I don't have the capability to de-age people," I lied with a straight face. "Although de-aging isn't really a big issue, as you will come to realize soon enough."
He scoffed at me before gesturing for me to go ahead. So I stood up, took a couple of steps, and got closer to him. I put my hand on his head and started using my Bright Lord essence to cleanse the remainder of the dark magic taints, heal his physical and mental state, as well as putting a delayed blessing on him.
I didn't try to put any fail-safe on him, as I was sure he would start to inspect himself for any and all foreign influence soon, plus I didn't feel comfortable messing with my friend's soul.
"Fuuuuuh~" I heard him exhale as I saw the color return to his face. "I haven't felt this good in years," he muttered.
"Here," I said as I handed him the Elder Wand, making his eyes widen in surprise. "You're giving me the wand back? Are you stupid?" he raised his voice.
"Well, no, but you need it more than I do, plus I already figured out the truth behind the story, so…"
"Did you?… Is that why?.." he tried to formulate a question, but I just shook my head.
"You wouldn't believe me even if I told you, so just connect to this and search for the relevant information," I said as I called out my Archive interface and started to explain how it worked and what to do.
He didn't take much time before he, too, connected to the Archive. I didn't need to sell it to him much either, as Gellert, for all his faults, truly loved magic and magical research. He wouldn't have been as powerful as he was if he didn't.
The first thing he did with his wand, though, was to cast a few cleaning spells on himself before transfiguring his prison clothes into a stylish black suit and trimming his hair to look proper. He could have been a damn good barber if he wasn't a dark lord… the amount of cosmetic charms he used just now were excessive in my opinion.
"Now then, what's the job?" he asked as he started playing with magic a little bit, conjuring birds and flowers.
"Expecto Patronum," he intoned softly, as white, gas-like magic started to form what looked like a rabbit that was then transformed into an Obscurial…
I looked at him, slightly stunned, before shaking my head slightly. "I want you to slowly take control over the black market, scattered dark wizards and other creatures. And I want them to be under your control. Look into brands or marks when you have a chance and design your own. I don't want unrest or people going rogue under you."
"Hah, so basically, you want me to do your dirty work?"
"More or less, yes," I admitted, stunning him for a second. "Anyway, go through the Archive as soon as you're able to, look into the ascension theory and its benefits, and my findings on the Deathly Hallows topic."
He gave me a sideways glance before he started walking out of the cell, with me following closely behind. He stopped for a few seconds, examined the door closely before nodding and continuing on his way.
I re-applied my self-transfiguration as I walked behind him, reminding him of what to do before we went our separate ways.
I returned to my room right after that, checking the time and finding that I still had about five minutes until breakfast. I smiled victoriously.
I opened my Archive and started monitoring Gellert; he seemed to have gone to Bulgaria of all places. I couldn't really bother with him, as I already did what I could for him.
I reconciled one of the last regrets of the old Dumbledore and gave my friend a second chance.
What he does with it will determine how long he will live, because if he tries to mess things up again, I will kill him. There will be no war under my watch.
Now I can just wait until he goes through the memory deep dive, which will trigger the blessing I left him, depending on how much progress he makes. If he succeeds in creating some of the ideas I left incomplete then…
'Let's see how much you want your youth back, Gellert,' I smirked as I started heading down, intending to go and have my breakfast.
—————
P@treon/ hunter20