Chapter 6 “ Dumbledore’s return
The Burrow whipped out of view as Harry and his trunk whirled though endless fireplaces.
A second later, he landed in his godfather’s old house and Ginny helped him to his feet.
The rest of the Weasleys arrived one by one, stumbling out into the spacious kitchen.
“Well,” Mr. Weasley said, straightening up. “I guess you can all go make yourselves at home. Who knows how long we’ll be here?”
Harry and Ron headed towards their usual room, so did Hermione and Ginny. Fred, George and Charlie stayed behind to help unload the Weasley’s belongings.
Walking down the memory filled hallways, Harry thought of all the changes that needed to be made to make the house less gloomy, and more livable. His first thought would be to take the elf heads off the walls. He felt odd to be back in a house with so many memories, and he remembered his godfather, whom he had hardly known. The fire to destroy Voldemort blazed inside him.
He opened the door of his and Ron’s familiar 2-bedded room, and Ron immediately began adding homey touches. Within minutes, his side of the room was covered in Chudley Canon posters. He ripped off the moldy old bedcover and replaced it with his own bright orange one. It was bedecked with moving Canon players on broomsticks, passing the quaffle to each other, and dodging bludgers.
Fluffing up his pillow, Ron turned to see Harry watching him, mouth slightly open.
“Well, he said sheepishly, “I wanted to make myself at home.”
Harry started unpacking his own trunk, holding back a laugh. He had nothing of sentimental value to put on display to make his half of the room look friendly, except old birthday cards and the photo album Hagrid had given him.
He hung all his robes neatly in the closet and when he checked to see if he’d forgotten anything, he noticed shattered glass lining the bottom of his trunk “ Sirius’ mirror. Picking up one of the pieces, Harry could see his reflection gazing back at him. It was a face full of sadness and knowledge; one who has seen the hardships of life “ and death. Harry had so far witness five murders, five more than anyone ever should. As he stared at the mirror, he couldn’t help but wonder who was next. He never wanted to put anyone he loved in mortal danger again. Ginny’s image swam to the front of his mind. If she ever got hurt, he knew that he would never be able to live a normal life. He blinked back tears as Ron spoke to him.
“Hey, Harry, I’m going downstairs, are you coming?”
“No, thanks, I’ll meet you down there.”
Ron shrugged and left the room. Harry returned to the closet to rifle through his meager possessions. His hand grazed against the soft, silvery fabric of the Invisibility Cloak that Dumbledore had passed on to him from Harry’s own father.
“Severus, please,”
Avada kedavra!
Dumbledore’s blank, blue eyes “ Dumbledore’s cold, lifeless body “ Dumbledore dead “
“Harry?”
Harry froze, his sleeve dabbing at his wet eyes. He knew that voice “ but, no, he was being stupid. He turned around and felt his heart skip a beat or two in shock and amazement. It was…
“Professor?” Harry gasped.
He was facing the old portrait of Sirius’ great-great grandfather Phineas Nigellus, but it wasn’t Phineas at all.
Albus Dumbledore was beaming back at him.
“I believe you sent Dobby to see me, Harry,” he said with a small wink. “I was able to visit Phineas, and to my great surprise and pleasure, all his other portraits as well, or, er, this is the only other portrait. He wasn’t very popular, you know.”
Seeing that Harry was at a loss for words, Dumbledore continued.
“I was informed that you, Hermione and the Weasley’s all moved here today, so I knew that it was due time I paid a visit.”
“Professor-” Harry repeated, “you “ I “ we can communicate!”
Dumbledore smiled.
“Yes. It ought to come in handy during your search for the horcruxes, but I will not be able to physically help you, nor can I be with you all the time. It’s a whole other world being a portrait!”
This was the Dumbledore Harry remembered, the one he had been longing for all summer.
“Harry,” he said, looking suddenly serious, “could you call Molly and Arthur in here, please?”
Harry dashed off along the halls down towards the kitchen. He burst in breathless, and motioned for Mr. and Mrs. Weasley to follow him.
“Harry, dear, there you are,” Mrs. Weasley said, apparently not understanding Harry’s gestures, “Would you believe it? Remus really did sell everything! There’s no cutlery, no plates, no glasses, no - ”
“Mrs. Weasley, could you please come upstairs a minute?” Harry interrupted impatiently, “it’s… Mr. Weasley, you, too.”
With looks of utmost confusion on their faces, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley followed him to his bedroom.
When they entered, Dumbledore was absentmindedly twiddling his thumbs, gazing around the room.
“Albus!” Mrs. Weasley shrieked, “oh, Albus, I knew it!” She ran over to the portrait and attempted unsuccessfully to hug it.
“Hello, Molly, hello Arthur!” Dumbledore said cheerfully. “I would like to explain something of importance to you, please.”
Mr. and Mrs. Weasley sat down looking worried as Dumbledore selectively explained about the horcruxes, and how two were already destroyed. He revealed his suspicions, his concerns and some of the dangers that Harry would ultimately have to face.
“I am going to help Harry the best I can,” he said, coldness jetted into his eyes for a minute, “but there are things of which I cannot be certain. I was wrong about Severus Snape, I could be wrong about much more.”
The room was silent. Harry had not properly discussed Dumbledore’s death with anybody yet, much less Dumbledore himself.
“Oh, and Harry,” he said as though he had only just remembered, “you will have to destroy the locket that we retrieved, I can teach you the spell, it’s…”
“Professor,” Harry said. He had not thought about the horcruxes since he had read the note written by R.A.B.
He told Dumbledore about the locket having been a fake.
Dumbledore sighed.
“I could have thought,” he said, "but the problem now is where the actual locket may be, and the matter of who R.A.B. is must be discussed."
Harry hadn’t even bothered to think about R.A.B. Harry went into his bedside table and retrieved the note from the locket. He held it up for Dumbledore to see, and in turn, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley.
“I suppose he was a Death Eater,” Harry said slowly once everyone had finished reading, “Because they are the only ones I’ve ever heard call Voldemort the Dark Lord.”
“And they have to be dead,” Mr. Weasley said looking at Dumbledore for approval, who nodded.
“But he knew he was going die! He must have done something, like betray You-know-who…” Mrs. Weasley said looking concerned again.
“Very observant, Molly, I think you’re right,” Dumbledore said with a small smile, “well, we have time to figure this out. For now, Harry, get adjust to your new residence. I must go help Minerva with the positions of the staff.” He winked, and was gone.
The rest of the day was spent dusting away cobwebs, discarding elf heads, and adding the Weasley’s belonging. Mr. Weasley had to return to the Burrow twice to retrieve forgotten possessions. Fred and George had decided that they could live at home again since it was so much closer to work than the Burrow was, and they where beginning to feel lonely. After growing up with so many people in the house, it is hard to go back to any other way. They decided to go to Diagon Alley the next day to pick up their belongings. The rest of the family, Harry and Hermione planned to go, too; Ginny needed her supplies for next term, and the rest thought it would be a fun day trip. Even though Harry, Ron and Hermione had received their letters from Hogwarts, they knew they weren’t going to go. Upon telling this to Mrs. Weasley, Ron had gotten a three-hour lecture. She still sniffed disapprovingly every time the topic of Hogwarts came up in a conversation.
“But mum,” Ron had tried to reason exasperatedly, “fighting You-know-who is more important than getting my NEWT’s!”
“Yes, but you won’t be fully qualified!” She said tearfully. “First Fred and George, now you… Ginny, you better stay in school!”
“I don’t have to stay for my NEWT’s either!” She had said, “I got 10 OWL’s, better than Ron!”
“We are not talking about this now, you’re finishing school, and that’s that.”
Mrs. Weasley decapitated the beetle whose juice she had been attempting to squeeze out in order to make a remedial stew.
Ginny winced. “Mum, I don’t know why you make that, nobody likes it!”
“It’s healthy!” She snapped, “it relieves stress, we could all use that now!”
Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny decided that would be best to leave her alone right now. They walked around examining the new decorations. They arrived at the room with the Black family tree. Sirius had explained who everyone was to Harry, but the others and not heard.
“There’s where Tonks is supposed to be, and there’s where your family got blasted off,” Harry said to Ron and Ginny. Hermione was more interested with Sirius’ immediate family.
“I didn’t know that Sirius had a brother,” she said, “Regulus Alphard Black, I wonder where he is now?”
“He’s dead,” Harry said shortly, “he was a Death Eater, but he got scared and tried to back out. Voldemort doesn’t stand for that.”
“Looks like Sirius has been blasted off here, too,” Hermione said scrutinizing the bottom of the tree, ignoring Ron’s wince.
But something had just clicked in Harry’s head.
“Regulus Alphard Black?” He said, his mind reeling with realization.
“But that means, his initials are…”