Thread: Character: The Phoenix - Sa13+
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Old 08-18-2011, 08:35 PM   #58 (permalink)
Wonderstruck
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Hogwarts RPG Name:
Jeremy Bradford
Fifth Year
Default Chapter Eight: Part Three
"It's not who you are that holds you back, it's who you think you are not."

Harry and I approached the statue, giving some of the old passwords we knew Dumbledore sometimes used before we found the right one. I took hold of Harry's hand as the statue moved, revealing the spiral staircase that had come to be the pathway to peace and comfort. Well...at least that was how I had come to view Dumbledore and his office. It seemed to be the only place at Hogwarts that I felt completely safe no matter what.

Luckily for us Dumbledore was in his office, sitting at his desk if my mind was tracking the position of his thoughts correctly. Harry knocked on the door, pushing it open at the sound of the permission to enter. I had been right and Dumbledore was sitting at his desk, his spectacles slightly lower on his nose, the spot that they usually were when he was reading something. He seemed surprised to see us, but not unhappy about it.

"Hello Harry, Abby. What can I help the two of you with this evening?" As I stepped up to get closer to Dumbledore I realized how worn down and ragged he looked. Even his thoughts were going through his head in a slower, more dragged out fashion than they usually were.

"Abby had another dream about a memory of her mom's," Harry said, taking a seat as I sat in the other.

Dumbledore pushed his glasses back on his nose and looked at the two of us. "And what was this memory?" he asked.

I explained to him what I had explained to Harry, and by the time I was done the tiredness I had sensed in Dumbledore earlier was completely gone. He looked at me, then at Harry, then back at me before speaking again.

"I had assumed that your mother and Tom were good friends from their correspondences with one another, but I had never assumed that there was a form of love there."

"You think Voldemort loved Abby's mom? Is Voldemort even capable of feeling love?" Harry asked, expressing the perplexity that I had been feeling about the situation myself.

"It is hard to know whether Voldemort loved your mother for who she was or if he loved your mother for her power. We can assume that the Voldemort of today wants her for the latter reason."

I rubbed my temples slightly with my index fingers before looking at Dumbledore again. "Did my mother help Tom hurt all those people with the basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets?" I asked.

Dumbledore looked at me for a couple of moments before responding. "I do not know. You see, I did my best to keep your mother away from Tom, but unfortunately at the time I was merely a professor, and the Headmaster during that time did not seem to see the threat in Tom that I had been coming to suspect."

I gave a little nod of the head, not feeling any more reassured about the situation. From where I was standing it looked like my mother knew exactly what she was doing and that was what was making that growing pit in the bottom of my stomach not go away.

"Professor, what exactly do you know about Tom Riddle? I mean, we know the things that he's done while he's been Voldemort, but you were there when he was our age and just learning magic. Was he always this evil?" Harry asked.

Dumbledore gave Harry a little grin. "I am actually very glad that you asked me that question Harry. For you see I have a suspicion of something about Tom, but I need to get more information before I can be absolutely certain, and we must be absolutely certain of what I suspect if we are to act efficiently."

Harry and I glanced at one another briefly before looking back at Dumbledore. I could pick from Dumbledore's mind that he was thinking Tom had a weapon, a weapon other than my mom that he was planning to use against us.

"So, what information do you need to know?" Harry asked.

"We need to know what you have asked me. You see I think the best way that we can understand Tom is by understanding where he comes from and who he is. I have a memory that I'd like to show you, but now is not the time. I want your minds to be clear and crisp when you see it, and not the tired ones that I am sure they are right now."

"A memory?" I asked. "Whose?"

"Mine. It's the day that I went to the orphanage that Tom was living in to tell him that he was a wizard. You see, I think if we can break down the man we can find the information that we need to confirm or disprove my suspicions."

Harry, Dumbledore, and I were silent for a couple of moments, none of us looking at each other but each of us deep in thought.

"Professor Dumbledore?" I asked.

"Yes Abby?"

"Does Professor Slughorn have information that you need?"

Dumbledore's eyes got the familiar twinkle in them that they did when Harry or I did something that he was proud of.

"Yes, he does."

"And I'm guessing that we're going to figure out more about Voldemort by looking through memories you have of him."

"Yes, but not just my memories. Also the memories of other people that have interacted with him throughout his years."

"And all of these will confirm your suspicions?" Harry asked, not skeptically but not sure how this would work. "If you already have them, don't you know if your suspicions are true?"

Instantly the confusion cleared in my head as I read Professor Dumbledore's thoughts, and put it all together. "Professor Slughorn's memory, the one he's given you about Tom...there's something wrong with it...isn't there?"

Dumbledore gave a little nod. "And what is the memory exactly?"

Dumbledore put up his hand to stop me. "All in good time. Allow me to show you a few other memories first before you go about speculating and such. In the mean time I ask that the both of you stay in Professor Slughorn's good graces. It is of the utmost important that that bond is not severed."

Harry and I gave Dumbledore a little nod of understanding.

"In the mean time Abby I must ask that you start writing down these memories. I know you don't have much control over when they come, but I do ask that when you feel them coming, you don't stop them. I believe if we can look at the collections of memories I have with those of the ones you're seeing of Tom and your mother, that we may know enough about Voldemort to hurt him."

"Knowledge is power," Harry muttered, not intending for anyone to hear, but arising a smile out of Dumbledore nonetheless.

"I can do that," I said to Dumbledore with another little nod.

"Abby...I don't know what you may find out about your mother, but I can sense that some of the things may change your perspective on her. All I can ask is that you remember that the mother you had from the time you were born up until recently is a mother that loved you and would do anything to protect you."

"With all due respect Professor Dumbledore I would prefer to not think of her as that woman anymore."

"And why is that?" Dumbledore asked, his lips furrowing downwards slightly.

"Because it will be much easier to kill a woman that I no longer love than one I can still see as my mother."
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