Dumbledore Narrowly Avoids Death
(Harry Pov in case you're confused.)
Of course, chaos didn’t come all at once. Chaos is the type to snap within the space of calm and order; which was exactly like that next morning. It was just like any other Sunday morning. Harry got up, (late mind you) groaning and moaning about the piercing light that flitted through the windows. Ron’s snoring could still be heard, even as he took a quick shower to wake up. It was all normal.
Casual clothes - check, slam Ron in the face with a pillow to wake him up - check, head downstairs to go talk with Hermione while waiting for Ron’s lazy arse to get ready for breakfast - check. It was normal, which after yesterday’s drama should have been a massive red flag. Because it all seemed to come crumbling down when the three of them entered the Great Hall to find all four tables deathly quiet, and all of them staring in confusion at the teachers table.
And there it was, chaos. Or more specifically a short, white haired teenager sitting at the teachers table stuffing his face with an unholy amount of omelette. The only sound that echoed around the hall was the amicable chattering from the teachers table as they all acted like the sudden existence of a MUGGLE teenager eating at their table wasn’t anything out of the ordinary. He realised they were loitering in the doorway when some younger students accidentally walked into his back. It was like he was snapped out of a trance, as he lightly grabbed Hermione and Ron by the wrists and walked them to the Gryffindor table. Harry didn’t blame them, he wanted to stare more at the unusual sight too.
They sat down in front of Seamus and Dean who were absentmindedly chewing on strips of bacon while watching the teachers table themselves. “Hey!” Harry hissed at the two of them under his breath. He was trying to be as quiet as possible in the tense silence that had encompassed the hall. Though he didn’t have to worry much, as soon as he tried to talk to Dean and Seamus, the white haired kid spoke. Loudly.
“Hey, Severus, is it alway so quiet here? It feels more like a military encampment than a school right now.”
And that was all it took to get everyone talking again apparently, as Ron burst out a “Did he seriously just call Professor Snape by his first name. What the hell is going on?” Everyone started bursting out in conversation. The twins plonked themselves down beside Hermione and loudly claimed that it was an omen signalling the end of the world. Harry could have sworn he heard the Slytherin table collectively gasp as their Head of House was addressed in a familiar manner. And Snape himself started angrily snapping at the now smug looking kid under his breath. Harry couldn’t hear exactly what he said over the noise but he could see Professor Flitwick and Professor Sprout near them, stifling laughs with their hands.
Yep. Absolute chaos.
It only got worse.
~~~~*~~~~
“I have a reputation to uphold Killua! Refer to me as Severus again in front of another student and I will have it that you are thrown into the lake with the giant squid!” The man hissed at him.
“Woah, there’s a giant squid in the lake? Could I fight it?” Killua asked, momentarily distracted from embarrassing Severus. Who promptly looked at him like he was insane.
“Could you fight the- NO! You can not fight the squid! Do you have a death wish?” Killua laughed at his outrage (in his face of course). The two other teachers who had introduced themselves as Pomona Sprout and Filius Flitwick gave up trying to hide their amusement and were now chuckling openly alongside him.
Severus just groaned and pinched his nose bridge. “It’s not even been a day and I already wish Minerva had simply obliviated you and left you in America.” Killua laughed harder.
“Anyway dear, I couldn’t help but wonder why you’ve chosen to eat up here with us rather than down there with the other students?” Pomona asked.
“Yes… Why didn’t you? I would suffer less.”
Filius snorted at Severus’ muttered comment through his food, while Killua chose to purposefully ignore it.
“Didn’t want to. Plus I know more people sitting up here than down at one of the other tables. I also wouldn’t have a clue which table I would sit at either. I heard that the Slytherin house wouldn’t like me very much so I wouldn’t want to sit with them by accident.”
“Ah, I see. Well if that’s an issue I could run you down on the different houses and which table they sit at?” Pomona offered.
“Really!” Killua grinned, “That would be great. I’m kinda confused about houses in general. Like what’s the point of it and all?”
“Oh, well in that case I’ll have to tell you everything! But how do you not know about school houses? Did they not have them in the schools where you’re from?”
“I was homeschooled.”
“That explains that th-”
There was a loud coughing noise that interrupted their conversation and Killua looked up to find the old man Albus standing up in front of a podium that had magically appeared. Though it probably appeared due to magic now that Killua thought about it…
The silence had returned though. The tension of hundreds of kids sitting on the edge of their seats and holding their breath. Killua sighed, already knowing where this was going. ‘Damn these kids are way too invested in my existence. Is it that weird for me to be here?’ But he still stood up and sauntered over to Albus’ side when he motioned for him.
“Now students. I’m sure you are curious about the new face that we have here so while everyone is present for this wonderful breakfast, I’ll introduce you. Killua Zoldyck here -”
“Yo.” Killua gave a very unenthusiastic greeting.
“Has undergone a rather unfortunate situation and as a result he will be staying at Hogwarts in our care until his situation is resolved.” The students started murmuring to each other at this. “Now, him residing here means he will be given free reign of the castle, and should he choose to, participate with you in lessons. So, as you are representing Hogwarts, I expect you to give our guest the greatest courtesy and respect despite him being a muggle.”
At the word ‘muggle’ the student body seemingly exploded. Not literally of course, that would be messy, but the volume within the Great Hall peaked as students shouted questions and outrage over each other. Killua winced and brought a hand up to rub his ear, as Albus worked to calm the berserking gremlins down.
“Now now! Your questions will be answered in due time!” That seemed to quiet them down a bit as they all focused piercing looks at the Headmaster. Killua was about to go sit down and enjoy the show of the old man being grilled, until he spoke again.
“NOT By me of course, you can bring any questions you have to Killua himself! So don’t be shy or afraid to talk to him.” The old man spoke to the literal hundreds of overly curious children who probably didn’t know what boundaries were. Killua was going to die. And Albus would be responsible. He turned slowly on his spot to face the Headmaster who was sweating bullets and pointedly avoiding his glaze. He was certain his outrage was visible on his face as he heard Severus snort behind him.
“Albus… What the fu-”
“ANYWAY enjoy the rest of your day. Timetables will be handed to you by Professor McGonagall in a minute from now.”
“Albu-”
“I will be off now; very important work is waiting for me.” He then turned and hurried out of the Great Hall with a swish of his robes. Consequently leaving Killua standing gobsmacked in front of the entire student body. Well, it probably wouldn’t be the first time he’s killed a traitorous, senile, old man. How to make it as tortuous as possible would be the problem. He took a deep breath and turned to the students who were looking at him, with a wide range of expressions: sympathy, smugness, disgust, expectancy and so on. He gave them all a long hard glare which seemed to put them a bit on edge.
“I’m not answering shit.” He simply stated into the silence before turning to go hunt the old man with a death wish down; ignoring the outraged shouts left behind him. That was a problem for a future, bloodlust sated, Killua.
“Killua! Where are you going?” Minerva’s alarmed voice called.
“I’m off to bust an old man’s kneecaps.” He shouted over his shoulder.
“KILLUA!”
It was pretty easy to stalk and hunt down the old man. Using Gyo he could follow the dispersing trail of aura that was left behind from his wacky aura node. The old man had a surprising amount of aura especially compared to the aura of the other teachers. If he had been born in his world with usual aura nodes and trained himself, with his glaringly obvious talent, Killua would bet that the old man would have been an exceptionally powerful hunter. It really was a shame that these people trained with sticks and spells instead of actually working to improve their aura. And it was also a shame considering the old man was going to die by his hands in a quick sec. But anyway, he found the trail led straight to his office. “Pop Rocks” Killua growled at the statue. It became alive at the interaction. Still extremely creepy in Killua’s opinion, but he was getting used to it. The statue glared at him.
“That was the old password. The password was changed this morning.” The statue snarked, leaving Killua more ticked off than ever.
“Ohoho. So the slippery old man PLANNED to throw me into the metaphorical shark tank. If he wasn’t dead before, he’s a full 6 feet under now...” Killua turned his glare to the statue.
“Now let me in.”
“No.” The statue’s beak twisted into a smirk. That promptly disappeared and turned into shock and horror as Killua’s hand slammed down onto the top of its head with enough force to crack the stone and leave it trembling.
“‘No’ it says! Did you know that that also translates into: ‘I want to be fucking die’ in my language?” His grin turned malicious as he tunnelled bloodlust towards the uncooperative statue. “Because I will happily oblige! With one little flex of my fingers, I will turn you into fucking dust.” His fake chirpy tone turned into a threatening snarl at the end. The statue looked up at the face of the most monstrous 14 year old child to ever exist and decided that this kid was absolutely serious. For the first time in its existence, the statue that had guarded the office of the Hogwarts Headmasters for centuries, felt true fear of death.
It moved out of the way instantly and with little to no hesitation. (Silently it prayed for poor Dumbledore’s soul.)
Killua stalked into Albus’ office to see him sitting happily at his desk, humming without a care in the world. The very sight made Killua’s eye start twitching again. He was currently using Zetsu to hide his presence, having turned it on when moving up the long stairway. He wasn’t sure why he turned it on in the first place, but it seemed appropriate now. He was about to give the old fool such a big fright that he would suffer a heart attack, die and he could get away with it by saying that he didn’t even lift a finger against him. It was genius! Of course if it didn’t work he could always resort to other more direct methods. So he quietly stalked towards Albus’ desk where he could slip behind him and scare the living shit out of him. It was a surprising tough task, the room was lit in a way that didn’t leave a breath of shadow to hide in and the little strange machines around the room would make a beeping sound, or puff some smoke and Killua would hold his breath and pray that Albus wouldn’t look up at see him creeping towards him or that any of the portraits suddenly woke up and alerted him of the approaching ex-assassin.
He was quietly thankful that Albus seemed so invested in whatever it was he was writing though. It was only due to that, that he managed to get behind him easily. He was just about to turn off Zetsu and scream bloody murder at the top of his lungs when his eyes caught sight of the words on that letter Dumbledore was writing. He blinked and looked closer. At this point he was cooling down from the initial betrayal and scaring that statue into obedience had acted as a pretty good anger outlet. But it was the word ‘dragons’ in fancy, curling letters, that let the rest of his thirst for the old man’s demise die. Dragons. Seriously? Those exist here? And apparently Albus was in contact with someone called ‘Charlie Weasley’ about getting a couple for a tournament of some sort.
Now that was interesting. Dragon's were pure fiction in his world, but they existed here? Where did the idea come from on his world if something so inherently, well, magical could actually exist? But most of all. Killua wanted to meet one. He wanted to see one with his own eyes. Gon had definitely rubbed off on him at some point, the thrill of potential adventure and seeing something new bubbled in him and he nearly forgot about his revenge.
Albus finished writing the letter, still humming to himself contently as he slipped it into an envelope. The action brought Killua out of his thoughts as he decided that while he wasn’t going to kill the old man for now, he was still going to sufficiently torment him and make him think twice about pulling shit like he did that morning again. Hell, Killua was probably going to have to hide in his room for a few days ‘til the students forget him so he doesn't get swarmed when he walks into a corridor. All because Albus was apparently too scared of his own students to face the horde himself.
So, he turned off Zetsu. Still behind him and started to chuckle, lowly, evilly behind the old man’s back and exuding a bit of bloodlust towards him for flare. He watched with barely contained glee as Albus’ frame stiffened. He turned his head slowly towards Killua, and Killua could see the moment he thought to himself, ‘well, I fucked up.’ in his wide eyes. The half-moon glasses on the old man’s nose seemed to tremble slightly.
“Killua… How… How did you get in here without the password?” His voice was a slightly higher pitch then it normally was, Killua noted with contentment. He grinned vindictively at the man.
“You don’t need to worry about that~~ All you need to know is that you can’t escape from me~~” He almost purred.
“O-oh, well. About the morning announcement I made.. I-”
“Had your little fun?”
“N-no, that’s not it at all Killua! I was just using the opportunity to- to encourage student engagement with you! I’m sure you would like some friends of your own age while here…”
“Is that how you see it now~~ You do realise that what you actually did was throw me into the stampede, like Scar did to Mufasa in the Lion King.”
“What are you even talking about now?” Albus looked nervously confused.
“Eh- I’m over it. I’m more interested in the dragons!” Killua had his momentary fun watching the metaphorical sweat drip down the old man’s forehead at his ambush, but he couldn’t quite get his mind off of the existence of giant, flying lizards. Besides, if this info was what he thought it was, it would act as sufficient blackmail. So he strutted around to the front of the desk and flopped down into that cushy couch again. It really was comfortable. Albus blinked and shook his head at the emotional whiplash of the situation.
“Huh. Dragons?” He asked, even more confused.
“Yeah! Ya know, the ones in that letter you were writing.” Albus blinked again, before relaxing into his seat. He seemed nonchalant about the discussion topic but Killua could see the wariness in his eyes that he tried to hide.
“Ah, I’m afraid that that is very confidential information Killua. I’ll let it slide for now, but I won’t tell you any more than that and I have to ask that you keep the idea a secret.”
“Ah, that's a shame. Anyway what’s the tournament about? I heard McGonagall mention something about it before too.” He looked up innocently at Albus who just gave a long suffering sigh.
“How much of the letter did you read?”
“All of it.”
“Right…” Killua smiled smugly as Albus looked resigned to the fact that Killua knew about the secret dragon task and would most definitely hold it against him as blackmail for turning the rabid students onto him.
It was then that Minerva and Severus strided into the office, coincidentally saving him from even more torment.
“Albus! I can’t find Killua, and you changed your password too! Poor boy is probably hiding somewhere after…” Minerva’s voice trailed off as her eye’s landed on Killua lounging on the couch.
“Do you need something Minnie? Severus?” Albus asked with a light toned voice. Severus pointedly raised an eyebrow.
“Not asking out of concern… but do you, by chance, still have both your kneecaps intact, Headmaster?”
“What?” The old man looked alarmed.
“Never mind…”
Killua gave a catlike grin. “You sound almost disappointed, Severus.”
“Why can’t you call me Professor Snape, like all the other 14 year olds.”
“Calling you Professor Snape would mean that I respect you.”
“Ah yes, and apparently you are physically incapable of respect. I almost forgot that.”
“You know me so well, Severus!”
“What are you doing here again Killua?” Minerva interrupting the impending petty argument.
“Well, I was initially going to break Albus’ kneecaps but got distracted by the dragons.”
At this, Severus and Minerva looked startled. “Dragons?” They chimed in unison, while Albus just looked regretful, as he admitted that Killua had found out about the first task of the ‘Triwizard Tournament’, as it was apparently called.
“TH’ FIRST TASK IS DRAGONS?!!” The shock was apparent on Minerva’s face at the very prospect. Apparently Albus hadn't run this past her before giving the green light to this ‘Charlie’ fellow.
“ALBUS! A STUDENT DIED LAST TIME ‘IS TOURNAMENT WIS HELD! DO YE WANT A REPEAT OF LAST TIME?” As Albus was being chewed out, Severus walked past Killua towards a shelf grumbling, “I’ll get the tea.” He flicked his wand and Killua watched in amusement as two chairs that were situated beside a bookshelf on the other side of the room, pulled themselves over to the desk next to him. Severus’ black robe billowed dramatically as he walked back to the chair he just drew up and poured two cups of the herbal green tea that had finished brewing while Killua was scaring the shit out of Albus.
Killua grabbed his and sipped it tentatively, he wasn’t much of a tea person as it wasn’t sweet enough for his taste. But growing up with his rich family had instilled some habits into him, such as to never refuse tea, even the poisoned variety.
“So, is that usual behaviour for those two?” Killua asked, nodding his head towards Minerva and Albus, who was trying to argue that dragons, ‘would be cool’ for a task. Severus took a long sip of his tea before answering.
“Un- fortunately.” Killua hummed.
“Reminds me of two of my friends back home. Leorio and Kurapika.” He mused as Minerva shouted, “AR’ YE GONNA THINK IT’S COOL WHEN A STUDENT’S LEG GETS CHOMPED OFF?!!” In the background.
“You have friends? That is a surprise.” Severus snarked.
“Not many, but I do.”
“No one's leg is being bitten off Minnie. We’ve restricted it to 7th years, remember.”
“Again, I’m shocked... What are they like?”
“ OH, SINCE WHEN WIS TAKING DOWN DRAGONS IN TH’ 7TH YEAR SYLLABUS? ”
“Well, Leoric wants to be a doctor for money and Kurapika is on a revenge path to kill all the guys who slaughtered his family.”
“Excuse me, what?”
“Yeah, I know. It’s surprising that they get along so well.”
“ Minnie… If you could just calm down… Have some tea! ”
“That wasn’t what I was surprised about but sure.”
“ I AM CALM ALBUS! ”
The conversation drifted for a bit after that. At some point Minerva did calm down enough to sit, have some tea and converse without shouting. The three teachers had practically forced Killua to promise not to tell a soul about the tournament task and Killua agreed on the condition that he gets to see the dragons up close when they come in. Albus agreed instantly but Minerva was a bit harder to convince as she was thoroughly against letting a 14 year old near the man eating predators. Severus, as expected, didn't really care either way and thought that the tournament was a stupid idea in the first place. “I see no point in flaunting, antagonising and being antagonised by the other magic schools. It is a waste of time that could be put towards more useful things.”
“Oh, like what Severus? Bullying children?” Minerva snarked.
“You bully children? Sounds fun.”
“Don’t encourage him, Killua. His students are scared of him enough as it is.” Killua grinned at her exasperated sigh as Severus rolled his eyes at the comments. He was again reminded of how entertaining it was to converse with the three of them as time sped by with them discussing all sorts of topics with varying hilarity. Albus was lectured by Minerva on throwing Killua under the bus and she insisted to Severus that they should talk to their houses separately on the topic of Killua’s existence later that day so that he wouldn't be inevitably trampled. Severus groaned about the idea but agreed, if only to get her off his case.
Killua would ask questions about the workings of the school, the wizarding society, history, and he had a lot of questions about dragons. And he was asked about his world (mainly by Albus) so Killua would answer in reply. The three of them were mainly interested in the existence of hunters but Killua was interested in how impossibly peaceful the wizard's world was. They only got ONE bad guy? Like, every 50 years or so? And murder wasn’t as common as the flu? It seemed unthinkable for him, and with that came the realisation that he probably shouldn’t go on a killing spree any time soon or the minimal kindness that the three of them were showing him would crumble like cookies in milk and he wouldn’t have anyone to help him get back to Gon…
Yeah, it was a good thing he didn’t kill the old man. He actually felt embarrassed that he considered it in the first place now… The three of them picked up on his sombre mood pretty quickly and were kind enough to leave him to his thoughts until he joined the conversation again. Which he did eventually, it was had not to be pulled out of his existential thoughts when Albus was trying to convince Severus that it was rude of him not to wear some (according to Severus) atrocious looking yellow fur cap that Albus had gotten him for Christmas the previous year. Killua couldn’t help but snort with laughter and tell him that he should wear it for Halloween to scare the students.
It was only when the chimes of the lunch bell rang through the castle that Killua realised that it had been hours since he first stalked into the Headmaster’s office with the intent of assassinating Albus. Time really does fly when you have good company. Lunch tasted even better then breakfast and Pomona finally got to give him her spiel on the school houses.
Though, he did end up hiding in his room for the rest of the day.
~~~~*~~~~
The first day at Hogwarts was supposed to be a day to get settled and prepare for the school year. You get your timetable, and are given the usual lectures on things such as ‘Don’t go into the forbidden forest. It’s forbidden for a reason. Do you want to die?’ and so on. It was a day to relax, explore the castle, and catch up with everyone. It wasn’t supposed to be a day where you contemplate and debate everything you ever knew to be true. Yet here Harry was. Fan-fucking-tastic.
“Hey, Ron.”
“Yeah mate?”
“Do you think we are ever going to get a normal school year?”
“Well out of 7, surely ONE will be normal. Right?”
“Can’t believe this. You totally just jinxed it.”
“EXCUSE ME, YOU ASKED?”
Hermione sighed at them from over the book of world languages she was reading. She was probably reading it due to her sudden obsession with that weird language the white haired kid (now dubbed Killua Zoldyck) spoke on the first day. Harry had asked her why she didn’t just ask Zoldyck about it instead of acting like him speaking another language was something so absurd that secretly studying it would be the key to all his darkest secrets. But she had just given him a dirty look and told him that she couldn’t find him.
It was almost like he was hiding from the student body! Which wasn’t much of a surprise considering how outraged everyone was at the concept of a muggle in the castle and with Professor Dumbledore practically throwing him to the piranhas. That also wasn’t much of a surprise considering how intense everyone was this morning during his announcement, but Harry still felt kinda bad for Zoldyck. But he was also worried about Professor Dumbledore considering how Zoldyck had left the room while threatening his kneecaps. In short, Harry was very confused.
He was so confused that he was actually relieved when Professor McGonagall had visited the Gryffindor common room that evening, once curfew was in place, to answer some questions. It was then that the awkward Q&A surrounding Zoldyck’s very existence commenced.
“How did he get here again?”
“Surely, your memory isn’t so bad that you’ve forgotten how he was thrown across your dinner table last night, Mr McLaggen.”
“Oh, right…”
“Well, why is he still here? Surely he should have been obliviated?”
“As of right now we currently don’t have a way of returning Mr Zoldyck back to where he came from. So, for his safety we’re keeping him here until the issues around… that situation, is all cleared up. Thank you for your question Miss Yarrow. Next.”
“Does Professor Dumbledore still have his kneecaps?” Snickers echoed through the room and Harry couldn’t stop from smiling as McGonagall sighed.
“Yes he does. No bodily harm has come across our Headmaster as of yet. Thank you Mr Jordan.”
“How will he participate in lessons if he is a muggle?” Hermione asked and the laughter stopped. Harry heard either Fred or George mutter “buzzkill” from behind him.
“As it is, Ki-Zoldyck is perfectly able to watch, listen and spectate your lessons. How much he gets from it is up to him and he has already agreed to avoid disrupting your own learning. I would also encourage you to take hold of the opportunity to use Zoldyck’s outside perspective to gain deeper insight into your own studies. Do not avoid him or assume superiority simply because he is a muggle. Arrogance is ignorance. Are there any more questions?” McGonagall's firm tone was surprising, it felt more like a warning than advice.
'Don’t look down on the new kid.' The message was ominous and Harry couldn’t help the mental image of Malfoy being roundhouse kicked out the 3rd floor windows by a short white haired muggle from popping into his head. It was a funny mental image but he quietly reminded himself not to let mental Malfoy become him.
“Are the other houses getting this lecture?” And the laughter was back. Questions continued for about an hour until they devolved into people asking things like; “What is Zoldyck’s favourite colour?” and “Is he single?” Professor McGonagall inevitably got fed up and left the Gryffindor’s to their childish gossip and chatter. Sleep came quickly that night as Harry resolved that he would perhaps strike up a conversation to Hogwart’s new resident muggle.
And hopefully he wouldn’t be roundhouse kicked out of any windows…