Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, I'm not that rich. If I was, I wouldn't be working anywhere, other than on my computer, writing for all of you people.
The Dawn's Betrayal
Chapter 3
Ron's Reprimand
"Hello, Harry"
"Hello, Headmaster Bumble-err, I mean, Dumbledore."
Harry's voice was very raspy and quiet, as if it hadn't been used in a long time. Hermione and Ginny looked up, tears in their eyes, and stared up at him. He was awake, and talking!
"Hello, Hermione, Ginny. How have my two favorite girls been over this last year?"
This caused them to burst into another round of tears. Harry just pulled them closer to him.
"Shhh, it's alright. I'm back, and you don't need to worry about me anymore."
Dumbledore watched Harry calm the girls down. It was surprising how good he was with them, after Azkaban. They slowly stopped crying, after Harry told them it was alright.
Ron watched as well, saddened that he had helped cause this. He knew Harry would never accept him anymore, but Dumbledore had ordered him to try and make amends, so he would try.
Harry watched as Ron stood up, and walked over to him. Ron stuck out his hand. "Harry, I'm sorry. I should have known better. I should have known that you wouldn't do something like that. I'm sorry."
"You're sorry? Sorry about what? Sorry that I was sent to Azkaban, or sorry that you were wrong about me? Sorry that you were supposed to be my friend, and you did a happy dance as I was sent away? Sorry that you never even tried to help me, in any way? Which one? Which one are you sorry about?"
"Harry, mate, you have to believe, I had no idea-"
"No idea that I'd do that sort of thing? Is that it? You've been my friend for four years, and you had no idea that I wouldn't kill someone?"
"But Harry, Professor Dumbledore said-"
"Dumbledore isn't God! All of the Wizarding World needs to learn that! Where did they get this idea that they can just go along with what the strongest wizard says, and then they're automatically right? Think for yourself, once in your life, Mate!" The last word was hissed with such venom that Ron took a step back.
"Where did the little boy who said 'That's Chess!' as he sacrificed himself so we could go on, go? Where did the boy who said 'You've got to make some sacrifices. I take one step forward, and the queen will take me. That leaves you free to checkmate the king.' go? Where did the boy who said 'Do you want to stop Snape from getting that Stone or not? Harry, it's you that has to go on. Not me, not Hermione, you! Look if you don't hurry up, Snape will already have the Stone!' go? Where did the boy who actually believed in me go? What did I do to destroy that trust?"
By the time Harry finished speaking, Ron was crying, Dumbledore was crying, Ginny and Hermione were both crying, and Harry was crying.
"Why couldn't you believe me? What did I ever do that ruined that trust?"
Ron sat down in his chair again, sobs wracking his body. "I'm sorry… I don't know what else to say! What am I supposed to do? How can I make it up to you?"
"It will be a long, long time, before I'm even ready to start forgiving you. Don't ask for it now. It's too early. I don't even know if I can forgive you. Too much has changed. You've changed, I've changed, and everything else has changed. It might not be enough, to just say you're sorry anymore."
"Well, I am, even if it isn't enough." Ron whispered through the sobs.
Harry looked back at Dumbledore. "So Headmaster, why am I here? You couldn't have just brought me back for a reunion with my friends, you're not like that. So what is it?"
"I have decided that you need a protector from the forces of Lord Voldemort. I have recruited Mr. Weasley here for that job. He is going to protect you everywhere you go."
"I'm sorry, what? I don't really need Mr. Weasley to protect me you know. I can take care of myself." Harry scoffed.
"I must insist that you take Ron here everywhere you go."
"Why? So you can spy on me all the time. So you can prod at his mind to find out where I go when you can't figure it out on your own. So I can be protected? I don't need you to protect me. And I know all about why you want me to be protected, but it isn't necessary. I can protect myself."
"You've just been in Azkaban for a year. You can't protect yourself. You need someone trained to protect you."
"And I suppose Ron has full Auror training, so that he can protect me?"
"Well… no, not really. But he is more advanced than you are."
"More… advanced?" Harry chuckled. "You obviously don't get it, do you? You honestly think he is better at defending me than I am?"
"Yes, he has been trained for this very purpose." Dumbledore said.
Harry caught on to something mixed in with Dumbledore's voice. "You're lacing your voice with magic, Dumbledore? I'm surprised the Lead Phoenix of the Order would do such a thing. That's generally used to make someone follow your will, with no choice of their own. It's almost as bad as the Imperious Curse. That's too bad that you have to resort to such tactics when someone won't listen to you. I mean, most of the world listens to you without it, because you're so powerful. You must be very power-hungry, or very controlling. Either way, you're doing a bad thing, Dumbledore."
Everyone's, besides Harry, eyes were wide open. Dumbledore because no one had ever found out his secret, Ron, Ginny, and Hermione, because they couldn't believe Dumbledore would have to resort to using such an evil magic to get his will.
"Dumbledore, have you always believed that what you say is always for the best? Have you always believed you were infallible? Didn't my little stint in Azkaban teach you better? You are not God. Stop playing as if you are. I don't have to listen to you. Let me show you how more advanced Mr. Weasley is, compared to me."
Dumbledore stood up, and spoke with a barely controlled voice. "What do you mean? Are you going to duel Mr. Weasley? Duels aren't allowed on school grounds, I can't let you do that."
"Then we'll leave school grounds. Ronald Bilius Weasley, I challenge you to a duel between two wizards! Do you accept?"
"Yes, Harry James Potter, I accept your challenge for a Wizard's Duel."
"Then what are the terms of the match?"
"A wand only duel, no Unforgivables, no Dark Curses, and no major pain curses. First to unconsciousness looses."
"Very well, the duel will take place at my home, the Potter Manor on Saturday. Dumbledore could be our official judge. Actually, he can bring the whole school to watch if he wants. Or if he doesn't want, I'll invite them anyways, since it's a Saturday."
Dumbledore gasped. "How do you know where Potter Manor is? I never told you where it was!"
Harry looked back at him with narrowed eyes. "So you knew… you knew where it was all the time. It's more protected than the Dursleys', and you never told me where it was? You just let me rot, and almost die, every single summer and for the first eleven years of my life, and you knew where my home was? Why, Dumbledore? Why were you keeping all of these things from me?"
Dumbledore sat back down. "I didn't think it was important. I didn't think you needed the worry of having your own house. So I kept it from you. It's not really important, though."
Harry laughed a dead, hollow sounding laugh. "It's not important? It's not important?! Do you know how they treated me, Dumbledore? Did you know that every week at least I had at least one broken bone? Did you know that I did the chores for the whole family, because they were too lazy to do their own work? Did you know that I was kept in the cupboard under the stairs, instead of being given my own room? Did you know any of that, Dumbledore?" His words raised in volume every word, until he was shouting.
Dumbledore stood up, and walked over to a file cabinet that appeared near the window. Opening the cabinet, he pulled out a file folder. He threw the folder to Harry, who caught it with a questioning look on his face.
"Open it. I only started looking at it last year, after you were put in Azkaban."
Harry opened the folder. It was full of every sort of information on him. The paper showed what he looked like, who his family members were, all his injuries, what caused them, where he stayed most in the house, what his room was, a floor plan for the house, and all sorts of things like that. Harry was amazed.
"You… you made this, to keep track of me… and you only started… started looking at it last year? What is wrong with you? This could have saved me from my life in HELL!" The last word was shouted.
"Harry, what could I have done? I couldn't have taken you in, and any where I sent you with wizards, your fame would have gone to your head."
"You could have kept me away from those damned relatives of mine, at least! The blood protection was based on love, wasn't it? The Dursleys' didn't love me! The wards aren't even there on the house! They never were!"
Harry pulled out one of the sheets. It was the sheet with all of the wards on the house. It showed all the wards that were ever on the house. The love ward was there for the night that Harry stayed outside the house, and then they vanished.
"The only good sending me there was… there wasn't any! So what, I didn't grow up with a big head. I didn't grow up with any sort of family! All I was there was their fucking house-elf!"
Dumbledore looked down at his desk, averting his eyes from Harry's. "I'm sorry Harry, but what do you want me to do about it? The past is the past. I can't change it."
"You could at least admit that you were wrong." Harry said quietly.
"I was wrong sending you there; I should have kept track of you. I'm sorry. I was more concerned with your safety, than with your mental health. It was foolish of me, I agree, but it is what I thought was best then."
"Thank you. Now don't think this makes things better between us, because it doesn't. I believe I must leave, now. School starts tomorrow and I need to be prepared. Ginny, Hermione, do you want to come along? I could use a little help."
Ginny and Hermione responded in the affirmative, and all three of them stood up.
Ron started to say something after all of them got up. "Are you going to Diagon Alley? If you are, you do need to get a new wand. They snapped your old one, once your trial was over. I am sorry about everything."
Ron walked out of the room after saying this, leaving all of them to talk for a moment.
Harry nodded his thanks, and started walking towards the door. Dumbledore interfered then, by casting a strong locking spell on his door.
"I insist you take Mr. Weasley along with you."
"I don't really care what you insist, Headmaster Dumbledore. Do you really think that you can keep me here if I don't follow your demand?"
Harry walked over to the door, and pulled his fist back. Everyone else in the room watched amazed as Harry's arm started to glow with a silvery blue light. Harry swung his fist forward, and struck the door. The door seemed to recoil a little at the power behind the punch, but eventually broke. The door was blasted off of its hinges, and flew into the wall by the stairs, shattering with the force of hitting the wall. The pieces fell down the stairs to the passageway at the bottom.
Dumbledore's eyes were wide at this amazing display of magic. He had blown down the most warded door in the whole school, besides the front door itself! It was nearly impossible to do that with a wand or some other focus, and Harry did it without one, with no problems what-so-ever!
Harry walked down the stairs, and Ginny and Hermione followed, wide eyed.
They reached the front doors quite quickly. Hermione and Ginny had caught up to Harry after a few seconds outside of the gargoyle. They had started talking about little things, like what they had done over the last year. Ginny had moved in with Hermione after the incident with her family.
They worked a lot harder in school, so that when Harry came back they could help him get up to speed. In fact, Ginny was doing so well in all of her classes, that they brought her up a year. She was matched with Hermione for the top of the year as well. The two of them had fun competition over who got the better grades. Since Ginny had never really made friends with any of the girls in her grade, due to the diary incident, she didn't mind moving up to the fifth year dorms last year.
Harry had been brought up to speed by the time they reached the front doors.
When Harry got close to the doors, he waved his hand and the doors were blasted open, as if struck with a battering ram. Hermione and Ginny's eyes widened even more.
Harry walked out passed the gates of Hogwarts, with Ginny and Hermione following.
"You both should hold on to me, if you want to follow me."
They both nodded and latched onto an arm each.
There was a large shimmer in the area around them, as Harry held out a small clear jewel in front of them. The air darkened with energy, before all three of them vanished.
A/N: Well, another chapter done. The beginning of this one turned out really well in my opinion. My character bashing seems like it didn't turn out well. Tell me what you think in a review, or give me and AIM at my screen name, 'Schatzikun' without the quotes.