Chapter 3
November 4th 1981,
Albus sighed as he made his way out of the Wizengamot chamber. It was evening by the time the Death Eater trials were concluded. A lot of them, especially Lucius Malfoy, tried pleading the Imperius defence, but that was quashed as Peter Pettigrew sang like a bird after being fed Veritaserum on the first day of the trials. Albus had asked the important question of whether the Dark Mark could be taken under the Imperius, to which the rat animagus replied in the negative. This had sealed the deal for the majority of the Death Eaters, who were sentenced to life in Azkaban, with most of the inner circle being sent through the Veil for their many heinous crimes. Some in the Light side of the Wizengamot had protested, but Dumbledore shocked the entire Wizengamot by stating that second chances were for those who wanted to be redeemed, and not to be given out like candy.
This statement had silenced the Wizengamot, but he could see the approval in most of the Light side and the entire Neutral faction. They had suffered a lot under the Death Eaters’ raids and were glad to finally see justice done.
Sirius had taken up the Black Lordship in the Wizengamot and was slated to return to Auror duty after a break. Which was a good thing as they needed to take Harry to Gringotts.
He turned to the young lord next to him, “Sirius, I believe we should take Harry to Gringotts today. Would you be so kind as to collect him and the Tonkses and head on there? I have someone I’d like to meet and I believe he would be accompanying me as well.” He said.
Sirius looked at him and nodded, “All right, Albus. I’ll see you at Gringotts.” With that, he headed to the Floo and promptly vanished into the flames.
Albus watched as Sirius disappeared and then headed into the direction of the lifts.
****
“Level Nine, Department of Mysteries,” the cool female voice of the lift intoned as the golden gates slid open. Albus stepped out into the corridor and walked until he reached the door at the end.
Turning to the grey cloaked figure near him, he said, “Could you please inform Director Croaker of my presence, Unspeakable? I have urgent news and I may require his help.”
The Unspeakable nodded and pressed a finger to the collar of his hood, speaking into it in a distorted voice that could be identified as both male and female. After a few moments, the door opened and out stepped a tall figure in dark grey robes and a hood over their head which covered their face. The word ‘DIRECTOR’ was written on the sleeves of his robes in bold red letters.
The figure stepped in front of Dumbledore, “Headmaster,’ they intoned in the distorted voice that all Unspeakables had.
Albus nodded, “Director Croaker, thank you for seeing me at such short notice,” he stated. “I have some important information that I wish to discuss with you in private. I’m afraid I might need your help.”
Croaker snorted, “Well I’ll be. The great Albus Dumbledore asking for help. Will wonders ever cease?” even though his voice was distorted, it didn’t take a genius to figure out his tone was mocking.
Albus winced and replied, “I’m aware of my shortcomings, Director Croaker. But this is beyond my expertise, no matter how much it pains me to say it. However, I do not feel it is safe to discuss it out here in the open.”
Croaker nodded. “Follow me.”
“Well, what is it, Albus? What do you need my help for?” Croaker asked as he sat behind the desk at his office.
“Voldemort isn’t dead.” Was the reply he got from the aged headmaster.
“Hmm. That is quite worrying.” Croaker said as he removed his hood after raising the wards in his office. His face was lined with small wrinkles, with a greying stubble and grey hair and brown eyes which held a lot of intelligence. “How do you think that happened?”
“I believe he made horcruxes.” Dumbledore said bluntly.
Croaker recoiled as if slapped, “Are you sure? That is one piece of dark magic none of us really like studying. Not to mention we don’t have many ways to get rid of them, except basilisk venom and FiendFyre.” He hoped Dumbledore would laugh and yell “Got you!” but his heart sank as the Headmaster remained stone-faced.
“I’m afraid it’s true, Saul,” Albus said, referring to the Director by his name since they were in private. “There is a piece of his soul in Harry’s scar. We, that is, the two of us and Sirius Black are heading to Gringotts to see if the goblins have a way of removing that piece from there.”
“The boy’s scar?! Albus! There’s no way we can-“
“There has to be,” Albus replied calmly. “I will be heading to Gringotts right now to see if we can remove the soul shard from Harry’s scar. I would actually prefer if you accompanied me. We may be able to track down the remaining Horcruxes.”
The head unspeakable leaned back in his chair, deep in thought. On the plus side, this would help in finally removing the stain that was Lord Voldemort from Britain. This task would not be easy, but surely, this was what Unspeakables signed up for right? Decision made, he looked at Dumbledore and said, ‘I’m in.”
Albus smiled, “Perfect. Shall we head out?”
****
The aged headmaster and the head Unspeakable apparated to Diagon Alley immediately after exiting the floo in the Ministry. They walked up to the building made out of white stone, with Albus smiling and nodding at those who were out and about, giving the two smiles as well as puzzled looks. After all, it wasn’t every day one saw the headmaster and the head unspeakable together.
Reaching the steps of the bank, Albus saw Sirius, Andromeda, Ted, and little Nymphadora, who was currently entertaining baby Harry with her metamorph powers, making the boy giggle as he sat on Sirius’s hip. With a small smile, he approached them.
“Ah, Sirius. I'm pleased to see you made it. Hello Theodore, Andromeda, and you as well, little Nymphadora,” he smiled as the girl pouted.
“Don’t call me that! It’s just Tonks!” Nymphadora said, stamping her foot.
Andromeda sighed, “Nymphadora, it’s a wonderful name! I don’t know why you don’t like it.”
“Dora! Dora!” baby Harry called as he clapped his hands.
“See! Harry likes it!” Andromeda said triumphantly while the men chuckled.
The little girl sent a betrayed look at Harry, who gave her a toothless grin. Nymphadora sighed and said, “Well, when Harry says it, it’s not so bad. Fine, I’ll go by Dora!” she declared.
“Well, that’s progress at least,” said Andromeda under her breath.
“As entertaining as this was, I believe we had business in Gringotts?” Croaker interjected.
“Yes, yes. Now if you will follow me,” Albus coughed and let the group into the bank.
The main hall of the bank contained a few customers, considering the fact that it was just a few days ago the Dark Lord fell. The group walked up to one of the tellers, where Dumbledore cleared his throat.
“Yes?” the teller looked up with a slight sneer.
“Good day, teller. May your gold flow and your enemies tremble at the sight of your blade. We wish to meet the Potter account manager for the will reading of James and Lily Potter.” Albus replied.
The teller looked at the group and said, “Very well. I’ll need identification.” Albus produced the key to the Potter account. The goblin took it and inspected it. “Wait here.” He grunted and hopped off his stool and went to a door behind him. After a few minutes, he came out the door and said, “The Potter account manager will see you now.”
The group followed the teller through a small stone corridor, until they reached a door saying, ‘Barchoke, Potter Account Manager.’ In a gold plate. The teller knocked the door.
“Enter!” They heard a rough voice bark.
The door opened and the group was ushered into a large office. It was widely spaced with a domed ceiling. In the centre of the office was a desk behind which sat a distinguished looking goblin; he looked aged which was seen by the grey hair sprouting from behind his ears.
“Lord Black, Mr. Dumbledore,” the goblin intoned.
Sirius stepped up and spoke in his pureblood Lord persona, “Greetings, Account Managed Barchoke. May your gold flow and your blade be soaked with the blood of your enemies.”
Barchoke grinned toothily; it was a scary sight for most of the group, “And may your enemies fall to your blade and your gold overflow, Lord Black.” He then became serious. “What can Gringotts do for you today?”
“We would like for the wills of Lord James and Lady Lily Potter to be read, Account Manager Barchoke. And we would like for one of your healers and curse breakers to have a look at little Harry’s scar.”
Barchoke raised an eyebrow. “The first request can be accommodated. However, I find your second request very strange.” He leaned forward. “Why do you think the scar is important?”
At this point, Croaker stepped up, “We believe that the Dark Lord Voldemort isn’t dead yet.”
“Oh? And how would you come to that conclusion?”
“He made Horcruxes.” Was the blunt reply the goblin received.
Barchoke’s eyes widened, then he let out a string of curses in his own language. “That foolish wizard!” He snarled. ‘And you believe there is a piece of his soul in the boy’s scar?”
After receiving nods in reply, he pressed a button on the desk and shouted something in Gobbledygook. A few minutes later, two goblins entered the room.
“May I introduce you to Healer Goldfeather and Curse breaker Sharpclaw. They will be helping with the check up and the removal of the soul piece.”
The goblin wearing a deep maroon suit with an outer robe perked up, “Soul Piece?” Which also caused the goblin wearing healer robes’ eyes to widen.
Goldfeather immediately rushed to Andromeda, who was holding baby Harry who was asleep. “I’m Healer Goldfeather. Please bring the baby closer so I may examine him.” She waved her hand over the baby and growled; if Andromeda didn’t know that the growl wasn’t directed at her, she would have been scared out of her wits. Little Dora was terrified; she had been watched wide eyed at all the drama unfolding, though she couldn’t understand much of it. “You’re right Barchoke. There is a soul piece in the boy’s scar.”
“Can it be removed?” Albus asked uncertainly.
“It can,” Healer Goldfeather nodded.
“Normally we would ask for a price,” Barchoke spoke up. “However, children are considered sacred in our nation. Especially newborns. And we goblins hate horcruxes. Not only is it the foulest and darkest piece of magic, it is also an affront to nature and magic in itself!” He explained.
“However, we won’t destroy the soul piece yet,” He raised a hand to quell any protest. “I know that it should be. However, should the Dark Lord have made more, it would be easier to track them down and destroy them one by one.”
Albus, Sirius and Croaker slowly nodded, “That makes sense,” Sirius said slowly.
Barchoke smirked, “Of course it does. Now, shall we resume with the reading of the wills? We shall remove the soul piece after that.”
Receiving nods in return, he decided to proceed with the will reading.
(A/N: The will reading has been done so many times in so many fanfics. I’m probably only going to give a summary at this point since I’m too lazy to write the entire thing.)
****
Few hours later
Albus sighed as he sat back in his chair in the Headmaster’s office. It had been a tiring day; with all the trials, and the will reading, which had quite a bit of things bequeathed to most in attendance while leaving Harry with the remaining estate. Albus was almost overcome with shame when he heard that under no circumstances was Harry to be sent to the Dursleys. He had kept quiet and his face emotionless when Sirius had snarled that he would die before letting Harry anywhere near them.
The removal of the Horcrux was easy but tiring. Harry had been placed in a ritual circle surrounded by half a dozen goblins in white robes. Albus had been asked to help as well. After a few minutes of chanting, when the chant reached its peak, a black mist erupted from Harry’s scar with a shrill scream that made the other wizards cover their ears. The piece of Voldemort’s soul was then transferred and trapped into a crystal, which would then be used to track the various soul pieces.
Albus had dropped a hint that there was a possibility that Voldemort may have given some of his Horcruxes to his followers for safekeeping. He then carefully suggested that they check the vaults of the inner circle of Voldemort’s followers. The goblins were initially offended but reluctantly agreed. It was with that thought that they ended up finding Helga Hufflepuff’s cup in Bellatrix Lestrange’s vault. The vault contents were seized by Gringotts and Sirius, in his capacity as Lord Black, he annulled the marriage between Bellatrix and Rodolphus Lestrange and had booted Bellatrix from the house of Black. As far as Albus knew, Narcissa Malfoy nee Black was on probation for the time being.
He let out a breath before a small smile formed on his face. Things were going well for the time being. Harry was safe, the Longbottoms were alive and well, the Death Eaters were justly punished, and they had already destroyed one Horcrux. He was hopeful by the next year or two, they would be able to destroy the remaining Horcruxes and therefore ensure Tom’s demise.
He leaned back and looked up at the ceiling of his office.
“Thank you, Ariana.” He whispered.
He was grateful for the second chance he had received. Most of what he had planned to do was done. Now all he had to do was ensure Tom’s death and help the next generation grow to help defend and make Magical Britain prosper. And he had hope that Sirius Black, and in the future, Harry Potter would be able to do so, with or without his help.
He had done his part. His fight was over. Soon it would be time for the next generation to step up.
But for now, he would help keep the peace.
For now, all was well.
~FIN~