It was a good point. It led to other good points such as whether Albus Dumbledore had lost the plot entirely…
"You'd better tell me about Harry's second year before I decide to just down the whole bottle." Sirius said, topping them back up.
Remus sighed heavily. "Well, firstly, I believe it relates to one of the items on your blackboard." He pointed his wand at the section entitled Horcrux Hunt and Destroy, and put a strikethrough one item. "Harry has already dealt with the diary."
Almost an hour later, Sirius finished listening to Remus telling the tale of Harry's rescue of Ginny Weasley and shook his head in disbelief. He took one deep breath after another trying to get hold of his whirling emotions. His godson had almost died – again!
"Are you OK, Padfoot?" Remus asked.
Sirius saw that he was regarding him with wary concern. He gestured vaguely at his friend. "I'm just…"
"Trying not to freak out?" Remus completed. "I think I hyperventilated for a good ten minutes."
"About which bit?" Sirius asked tersely. "The bit where Harry is a Parselmouth like Voldemort? Or the bit where the whole school turns on him?" Although in the abstract the twins dubbing of Harry as a Dark Lord was slightly humorous. "Or the bit where he almost gets eaten by Acromantula? Or the bit where he almost gets eaten by a bloody great basilisk, saving some idiotic girl who should know better than to write in a diary that talks back to you! Oh and let's not forget battling with a soul remnant of old Voldepants himself! Again!"
He was yelling by the end of it.
Remus looked at him with raised eyebrows.
Sirius took a deep breath and rubbed a hand over his eyes. "Sorry, Remus. It's just…"
"No, your reaction pretty much mirrored mine after the twins finished telling me." Remus said with a smile. "I did however miss out the idiotic girl section since the idiotic girl in question was a Weasley."
"You always were the diplomat in the group." Sirius said, letting some of his anger drain away; the rest he refocused. "I can't believe Dumbledore wasn't aware of what was going on!"
"Ah, yes. It makes you wonder, doesn't it?" Remus said thoughtfully. "After all, as soon as Fred, or was it George, anyway as soon as one of them mentioned petrification, I immediately began thinking…"
"What creatures can petrify another living being?" Sirius nodded briskly. The same thought had occurred to him during Remus's retelling.
"Not to mention that Slytherin is associated with a snake mascot and since it was clear that the monster was hidden in Slytherin's Chamber of Secrets…" Remus sighed. "I got basilisk before the twins got to the spiders bit."
"Well, you were also the most intelligent of us in the old days, Moony." Sirius joked.
Remus smiled again and they shared a moment of camaraderie tinged with the sadness for all they had lost.
"Anyway," Remus cleared his throat, "I did question Minerva and Pomona after my session with the twins wanting to know why they hadn't discovered it was a basilisk earlier. Albus had told the staff apparently to focus on the students and their classes; that he had an investigation well in hand."
Sirius lurched out of his chair.
"They believed him and made no effort to investigate on their own." Remus frowned. "I don't believe Albus knew exactly where the Chamber was or how to get into it, but I do think he knew that the monster was a basilisk and that Voldemort must have possessed someone in his school again in order for the Chamber to be opened. In some respects, I think Albus was truly doing his best to solve the problem although I abhor his decision to continue as normal putting the students' lives at risk. So, do I think he set-up another showdown between Voldemort and Harry? No."
Sirius stopped pacing and faced Remus, realising what he had implied. "You think he deliberately set-up the showdowns in Harry's first year?"
Remus picked up his discarded Firewhiskey and sipped it. "I've had more time to think about this than you, Padfoot."
Sirius looked at Remus and recognised the look on his face all too well. "I'm not going to like this either, am I?"
"No," Remus said bluntly. "Perhaps you should sit."
Sirius glared at Remus but sat down again.
"Imagine for a moment that you're Albus. You know the common story of the Boy Who Lived told to every child; that Voldemort attacked the Potters, James and Lily died but Harry didn't; that somehow the Killing Curse rebounded off Harry and killed Voldemort. You believe the story to be mostly true but you don't know for certain how Harry survived the Killing Curse although you have theories, and you don't know for certain that Voldemort is dead although again you have theories."
"And if you have theories, you have to test them." Sirius mused.
"Exactly." Remus pointed at Sirius. "Ten points to Gryffindor. So, let's assume Albus keeps his ear to the ground and becomes convinced that Voldemort is out there in a wraith form but trying to find a body."
"The whole Philosopher's stone thing was a trap to establish whether Voldemort was alive or not, wasn't it?" Sirius put things together quickly. "Maybe it wasn't even the real stone."
"I doubt it was and I'm fairly certain the protections were more for show than anything else since, with respect to Harry and his friends, they were first years and able to overcome them." Remus said. "No, I think Albus's plan was fairly simple: bait a trap for Voldemort and see if he showed."
"Only he used both the stone and Harry as bait." Sirius felt his anger stirring again.
"Yes, Albus used Harry as bait." Remus agreed softly. "After all, why else would he wait until Harry was at the school before setting the trap?"
Sirius shivered, chilled by the thought.
Remus gave a huff. "I'm sure that Albus never anticipated Harry trying to protect the stone from Voldemort directly but I think he knew that there was a possibility that Voldemort would attack Harry if there was an opportunity – and if it happened it would allow him to assess his theories about Harry."
Sirius surged to his feet again.
"Sit, Padfoot." Remus ordered crisply. "I'm certain that Albus believed the risk was minimal – Voldemort certainly couldn't attack Harry too overtly without drawing attention – but if an encounter between them occurred…" he sighed, "I'm sure Albus thought in his arrogance that he had the advantage and would be there to step in before anything serious happened. And quite honestly, it isn't just Harry he risked; he placed an entire school full of children at risk with this scheme especially when you consider that Voldemort possessed a teacher."