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Tarnished Lion	By : InvidiaRed Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male Views: 56639 -:- Recommendations : 2 -:- Currently Reading : 10
Disclaimer: I make no money off of this fanfiction. Harry Potter and its world isn't mine. Any and all resemblance is entirely coincidental. Again, All fun and practice.

Chapter List
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Dumbledore was all too aware of his own failings. Frightfully aware, A bitter sting that was with him all too often these days.
Homenum Revelio
He thought, and the Human-Presence Revealing Spell effortlessly bypassed Harry's protective wards.
Harry was in his room a sigh of relief issued from him.
He had nothing to worry about. Guilt gnawed at him as it did all to often these nights. Especially, in regards to the burdened one behind that warded door. Unaware to the depth upon which he had been cursed as a babe.
Dumbledore was fully aware of the soul crushing responsibility Harry held. To burden Harry further would be inexcusable in the extreme.
Harry's marks were showing a remarkable improvement if only it wasn't due in part to that pernicious woman and the ministry. He thought bitterly he couldn't protect Harry the way he ought to say nothing of.
Cedric was a bright pupil and did not in the slightest deserve to be lambasted in the daily prophet and neither did Harry. Yet, more fault to lay at his feet. Alas, Being a Headmaster did not have a remedy for politics.
Yet, it was an improvement of a sort.
Cornelius Fudge at last was showing he had a spine. Dumbledore distinctly remembered the days when the politician had endlessly sought his counsel on what had seemed to be every minor matter.
Ruefully, Dumbledore could only wish this baring of teeth did not come at such a horrifying cost! Young Men should not have to worry about being viciously mauled by the very ministry that should protect them!
He let out an audible sigh as he did not open that obviously warded door. Harry deserved and had more than earned basic adult respect and he probably didn't need the ramblings of an old man bouncing around in his brain. Dumbledore lamented as he turned away from Harry's room.
Why did the love of office have to be the minister's vice of choice? He could've been a happy drunkard like Hagrid. Dumbledore pushed the thought aside. A mistake the old too often made...
They who'd forgotten what it meant to experience the blossom of youth. Wizard kind lived far longer than muggles, Once wizardkind had been more advanced than the muggle world. Those days were long since spent, the muggle world had far outpaced the wizarding one and the gap would only grow with time. He had noticed the muggle world sped up post war.
The issues of the present couldn't be addressed when the issues of the past had yet to be resolved!
Perhaps the wizarding world was hobbled by elders who had lived in the past. Dumbledore chuckled to himself in this lonely hallway. Maybe it was the laughter of an old man who'd made far too many mistakes.
Dumbledore had never claimed to be perfect. He'd tried to do good... The problem was... His Mistakes tended to haunt others long after he'd made them. Another regret to add to the pile grown throughout his life.
"Ariana" he intoned solemnly as his shoulders sagged and he felt every year of his age. Love could never be a sin, To his eternal shame, He'd been blinded by it and he'd been ruthlessly taken advantage of. He should have known better. Why hadn't he known better?
He had chased his dreams only to find so many others paid the ultimate price. Broken Bodies and wasted battlegrounds all his fault.
"For the greater good." Such good intentions poisoned by such a vile man. It irked him, as a rancorous thorn embedded deep. The greatest horrors imaginable unfolded because of his noble and best intentions. At his feet laid the second world war how ever inadvertent. For war in one world invariably fueled war in the other. Did he deserve forgiveness? He hadn't intended any of that evil, of that terror. He'd wanted to be loved and that his sister be healed from the poison that had been slowly killing her.
And what did he get for his trouble?For what he'd done? Betrayal of kin was terrible enough, A broken heart that would never stop weeping and a brother that hated him.
Kinslayer, the word haunted him. Branded murderer on his soul. None of it was supposed to happen!
Grimmauld house groaned, He looked around as this place made clear it did not approve his presence. It pulled him from his loathsome reverie as he departed towards the stairs. As his visits slowly washed this place of stale despair and tired darkness. Dumbledore would win in the end not having to do anything as the darkness that lurked within the house faded just a bit more with every visit. Its defenses a little weaker.
Harry had suffered enough.Dumbledore decided firmly he would not add to his misery. No!but he could lessen the burden a bit.
Hermione corresponded with him regularly. His guilty heart was heavy enough as it was. Harry was a Gryffindor through and through, Dumbledore had to wonder if Hermione and Ronald truly understood what it meant to be a true friend to one.
Daring, Nerve and Chivalry.
Another regret to the howlers on his desk of life.
He knew quite well once a path was set it was impossible to force a Gryffindor from their path they would follow the road to its conclusion no matter what. That was what it meant to be of fire!
A beacon of sheltering warmth from the creeping darkness to their friends and allies. An inhospitable, merciless inferno to their foes! It was why the houses of earth and air sided with fire and always had at Hogwarts.
Slytherin that house of water that opposing element rarely understood. He knew for a fact Severus Snape did not understand Gryffindors. Never had and likely never would.
Harry Potter's fate was on full display to any who understood wandlore.
For none and nobody should stand in their way. To a holder of a wand of holly you were best at their side not in their way.
Holly quests that's what it does and should it find its core match with a phoenix feather. None were safe from its beholder. As Tom found to his lasting dismay. Dumbledore had to wonder but... If he had to guess. His guesses were usually on point a small point of satisfaction admist his sorrow.
There was more to Harry's encounter with a reborn Tom Riddle. Harry's mind had been tampered with that much was certain, that Tom had done it was self-evident the why was far more important. Why be so secretive of your return? If Dumbledore was a betting man. There was only one logical conclusion on why a potent and prideful wizard would befuddle an enemy's memory.
Dumbledore's eyes widened at the sudden insight that dashed across his mind.
Tom Riddle had lost a duel.
Dumbledore fumbled for a second as he searched for a vial and pressed the wand to his temple. A wift of silver came free and he secured it within the vial his thumb pressed imperiously on the stopper.
That was for a later time. Dumbledore hid the vial in a sleeve.
He strolled down the stairs at his leisure.
Hermione would have to learn on her own. One could not compel a Gryffindor, you had to advise and hope for the best. Harry would not easily be dissuaded from his venture. Not if he was sure he was protecting his friends and to Dumbledore's chargrin it had seemed to work.
He would strongly caution her to avoid confronting Harry. For such a brilliant young witch she didn't understand the matters of the heart.
If there was one force Harry was naturally puissant at it was the uncontrollable, unpredictable and thankfully unreplicateable.
Love.
Harry would not react well if Hermione confronted him not when he thinks he's keeping them safe. The fire would singe all of them when and if Ronald got involved. Would the trio survive? Dumbledore sincerely hoped so.
One could not control the mercurial whims of flame only those with the utmost follies would try. Perhaps, they'd fare better than the last trio. Dumbledore had to cling to hope.
He had felt the intruder at Hogwarts. He had seen the signs as if the unnatural winter and the odd chill wasn't enough of a hint to the wary. Uncertainty and hardship awaited for a world out of balance.
Headmaster Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore! Had been manipulated by one dark lord that he'd later bested and he had been feared by and had outlived this newest contender. The sinister question remained. The befuddling why
Why hadn't balance returned? What a cruel twisted of fate to believe he had in his shame dared to love the very anathema to which he was naturally opposed!
No, Tom wasn't the cause of this threat. His heart quivered at which he dared not to think. It lurked in his heart like grasping grindylows.
Surely the ministry wouldn't be so foolish as to put a nascent dark lord at Hogwarts to provoke him?That would be most unwise.
That proxy of the ministry was laughably underqualified to be a professor. Much less a Professor in Defense Against The Dark Arts
Nobody was possibly that ignorant right?
Dumbledore had been entirely right about that one when she was a student. A vapid if average witch. A stunted wand was a sign of a stunted soul! Afterall, She wanted more than she was owed, always more but her abilities just wasn't up to par by frankly better and far more deserving witches and wizards. She had nothing going for her, no charisma, no connections, no money.
Doomed to be a dull, dreary and dreadfully below average witch. Dumbledore wasn't cruel but... She didn't get to that high station on her knees if only because she had the personality of a wolverine stuck in a bramble patch and he genuinely didn't think she was smart enough to brew love potions, use magic to make herself more attractive or even have that thought take root in that fallow field she called a mind. The officals of the ministry had surely been spared by divine providence. He knew for a fact he could transfigure a toad into an attractive woman and back. Part of him suspected the ministry would've been better off if whores did end up on their knees. Hedonists tended to self isolate and leave the people who actually did things alone.
In contrast to do nothing bureaucrats that actively hindered others.
Whoever caught her fancy had his sincerest condolences as a man. He could only hope any unforunate wizard or witch could transfigure themselves permanently in time to avoid whatever that pink wearing monster thought was affection! In all seriousness he'd probably use the killing curse as it was intended. An act of mercy! Even that flash of green would spare them having to look at the ugliest possible version of pink!
For Umbridge could only bring misery to others. Much like her poor janitor father who just vanished one day. Which only meant she used darker methods to supplement her stunted and lacking abilities. Blackmail, deceit, cruelty and likely darker crimes by a toady in every single sense of the word. Dumbledore wanted to believe that evil didn't exist. But Dolores Umbridge was a living example. An insipid blight that would only empower greater evils like Tom Riddle who swan dived into the darkest arts possible. Dumbledore froze quieting the poison Umbridge inspired,
They knew.
The Ministry Of Magic had to know Lords were not the kind of folk to be taunted without recompense! Perhaps he'd been far too lenient. Too forgiving, too willing to turn the cheek as it were. That they had done this on purpose to intrude on his domain willingly!
Perhaps, He had allowed this indulgence to go on longer than it should have been allotted. What was one more regret on a pile of many?
Neither God nor his Adversary were mocked! Niether was Dumbledore!
...
It was possible and even considered highly likely that they'd forgotten what he was. He hated politics after what grievous harm he had inadvertently let loose upon the world.
Maybe it was time to briefly come out of retirement. To remind the wizarding world that his sequestering was entirely one of choice.
Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore had committed so many mistakes in his life.He'd wrecked so much of his own life and even attained some small measure no matter how small of redemption in the wake of his colossal failures.
If it would aid Harry then it would be worth it. Help, the burgeoning wizard along on his quest.
For a Lord's responsibility was not the wizarding world. A binding, exacting toll to the world entire! He was merciful but even he himself knew all too well that his mercy like patience had limits. And if the ministry was going to throw its weight around.
Throw his mercy in his face as if it was cheap garbage and show such utter disrespect to him and those under his aegis.
Was he not obligated to respond in kind?
It was stupid reckless and he'd probably never hear the end of it but maybe just maybe.
The Wizarding World needed reminding that he was an old flame. That he would always be a Gryffindor and they took care of their own.
Dumbledore straightened his shoulders. So much to do, So much to put in order before he did what he perhaps ought to have done in the first place.
Perhaps, reinforce that he wasn't hobbled as they'd deluded themselves into believing. While his body might have aged his power hadn't diminished nor showed signs of decrepitude. That in of itself was an insurmountable sign of Lordship. What seperated the chaff from the wheat and the lions from the sheep.
He tried to think of other things but his thoughts raced back to this decision cause once it was made. He'd be in for the long march, that was the nature of his path.
The Order of The Phoenix didn't need tending right now. His choice had been made and not even he could turn from it once he'd made that first step.
The Order would not understand because wizardkind did not understand. He was as different to them as they were to muggles and it was time to remind them what a Lord meant.
Most Lords did not live in the wizarding world after all. The Muggle World gave their solitary natures more room to breathe. They did however know one another no matter how large their territories nor how vast the distance between them. The law of vassals forbade meeting another lordship except by proxy for a pertinent reason.
It added a whole other level of byzantine labyrinthine complexity to everything. He rather liked the level of anonymity being one of the few lords among the wizarding world.
Albus Dumbledore stopped at the threshold. He made sure his smile was firmly on his face.
It would hopefully take all the attention of the ministry away from everyone else. He would counsel Hermione as best he could before this went off like an explosion.
She would have to learn that Friendship cut both ways and that not everything was in her control. For that was the gift of age!
Not to see how high one could climb but to only see the rocks below and how far one could fall.
The future belonged to the young always had.
Dumbledore could only give the young unproven generation a chance. As had been given in time to him when he was young.
The future was uncertain filled with darkness.
"Dumbledore?" Molly looked at him cautious and he offered a lemon drop to her. Sweets always did make the bitter potion go down easier.
"We have much to plan and not alot of time. In the interest of expediency I ask for your respectful silence." Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore began.
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Tarnished Lion