When Harry's cell sounded as he left water polo practice he quickly answered it. "Hello."
"Good news kiddo, I'm in the clear."
"That's great. How's England?"
"Wet and cold. Beth and Rick are in their element with all the political maneuvering. I'm mostly sitting back and watching."
"Did your cousin and her husband hand it over?"
"Yes."
"So that's four."
"Yep. I've also put a bid on the property you said housed the ring. It's next to a forest reserve and once we get past the protections on the ring and destroy it I figure we can donate the property to the reserve. And yes, I know, I need to wait for you since the protections on the ring are mostly parseltongue."
"Yes. That just leaves the diadem."
"Yep. How's school? How was your history test?"
"Aced it. The professor asked if I'd lead the talk when we visit the Parthenon next break. He says it will be extra credit for the final trimester if I do a good job."
"Harry… I… You sound happy. Are you?"
"Yeah. Why wouldn't I be? I mean I miss you and Beth, James and the girls but I have what I need and then some. I have more money than I'll ever spend. I have… work, for lack of a better term, that makes me happy. Challenges me, I get to do good. I 'm tutoring once a week in one of the D.C. inner city elementaries, Etienne is from Haiti and my French comes in very handy. I'm looking forward to finishing my education and doing the work of the foundation. Like I said why wouldn't I be happy?
"Oh I forgot to tell you. Kyle, you know first cello in orchestra got bumped and fell badly during basketball. Anyway he broke his arm and wrist in three places and damaged the nerves in his left hand. It will be at least a year before he's back in orchestra. It sucks for him, but you are now speaking to the first chair cellist of the Stuart-Cavanaugh student orchestra."
"Congrats, I'll make a point to portkey back for the trimester concerts. But I'm not sure if anyone else will come. But back to my question. I ask because I keep moving in the direction that you're going to leave Stuart-Cavanaugh and the States and come to the U.K. and join the magical community here, but I just assume. We both know what they say about assumptions.
"I want this to be your choice Harry, your decision. It would be different if you hadn't done the time jumps. I knew when I was thirteen that I didn't want to knuckle under to my parents pressures. I think that living with my family was what made fifth year so hard. I nearly killed another student that year for a lot of stupid reasons and at the time I thought it was just a prank. I screwed up so bad with your dad and Remy. Bad enough I endangered another kid, but I nearly turned Remy into a killer too. James gave me the lecture of my life and said if I ever did anything like that again… Well, he gave me one more shot to prove I wasn't like my family. If I effed up again, I was on my own because the apple hadn't fallen far enough from the tree. Your dad let me come home with him, to help me keep from messing up again. But I guess what I'm getting at is I want you to choose, to choose the life you want, Not just to do stuff because it's expected of you."
"I… I haven't really thought about it. You've always done your best to see to it I knew how to do the things that would be expected from me. I seldom felt anything other than contentment and I never was truly unhappy. You always made sure I was allowed to set my own pace. Can I think about it for a while?"
"Sure. So… what do you think of Baltimore's chances to represent the States at the Quidditch World Cup?"
....
Three weeks later Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore was ready to pull his beard out. The Wizengamot's committee for the restructure was ignoring his suggestions completely and that… that upstart from the colonies was undermining decades of Albus' influence. In fact Augusta Longbottom and Rufus Scrimegour had told him point blank if he valued his Headmaster of Hogwarts position he should get out of their hair and mind his school. It was only because of his prior service that he wasn't on trial for obstruction of justice. He had reluctantly returned to Hogwarts.
Part of him wanted to rail and fume about his lost influence. He should have known Sirius Black would be a thorn in his side from the day the boy was sorted into Gryffindor. He had thought that by protecting him from that indiscretion fifth year, he had bought the boy's loyalty and he had never expected him to be able to gain the level of political power that the man now wielded. Albus appreciated the power play that had been made and schemed how he could get his power back.
He needed to have power so that when Voldemort came back he could save the wizarding world. Of course part of that meant he needed to have control of Harry Potter. It was absurd the potential amount of power that boy had. If Albus had had his way Harry would never had been aware of the power he could wield. Albus would have kept him ignorant, biddable, and naively admiring of himself until he could be guided to his fate of destroying Voldemort. But thanks to that thrice damned Sirius Black those plans would never come to fruition.
Albus wondered if Black had doomed the wizarding world to falling into darkness. Albus knew in the Wizengamot his name was dirt but in the realm of the common British witch and wizard he was still well regarded thank heaven for Chocolate frog cards.
...
Want to read ahead. Then Join my Pa*treon for the mass release of 60+ chapters that has happened.
Even Free members can enjoy 2+ advanced chapters FOR FREE.
Link: p*atreon.com/Divine_Quill (Remove the *)
Join Right Now