Dumbledore made his way through Diagon and Knockturn Alley, listening to the chatter around him. He was invisible to others on the street under his own spell.
Most of the conversation was mundane, but he did learn some interesting things. Harry Potter had been busy, it seems that Minerva had still hired Remus Lupin without any other options volunteering for the defense against the dark arts position. A shame that he had attacked Harry Potter, but at least it proved that the boy was developing himself well. Fighting off an Alpha variant werewolf was no small accomplishment, even if he had been injured in doing so.
Dumbledore’s team securing the blood wards had been attacked and several killed. It still was unclear exactly what had happened, but there were rumors of a powerful undead that had appeared and fought the entire team to a standstill at once.
Somehow Harry Potter had escaped and made his way back to the ministry in the chaos. Dumbledore wondered how he had managed that. The memory charms the boy should have been under should have completely stopped him from even knowing about his magic.
It was slightly harmful to the boy, but if the charms were properly lifted then there would have been no permanent damage. But after the failed first attempt to keep him at the Dursleys, Dumbledore had ordered more intense measures to keep him there.
And now it was all for nothing. Dumbledore had already inspected the site, and the blood ward had been completely broken. Three consecutive years of Harry Potter being there unwillingly and resisting being held there was too much, and the whole thing had collapsed under the strain. The year he had been under the coma had not degraded the blood ward, but had not reinforced it either.
But the most interesting news Dumbledore had heard related to something else.
Dumbledore had expected him to be vilified for his recent actions to an extent. But the Ministry had been fully busy in sullying his image while he wasn’t there to counter them. People on the street were talking about him with hushed whispers as if he might appear and strike them down at any moment for being sympathetic to the Dark Faction. He was almost tempted to reveal himself for the simple shock value as he heard a few particularly hysterical conversations while he stood there invisibly in earshot.
Somehow on the same night of Dumbledore’s escape from Azkaban, nearly all the heads of the dark pureblood families had gone missing. Suspected to be dead, as many of the heirs had been accepted by the family magics to inherit already. Given his known massacre at Azkaban of the death eaters and the timing of his escape, the ministry was placing the blame for everything firmly on Dumbledore, hence the fear of him in the public. Only Lucius Malfoy and a few others managed to survive the apparent purge, and none of them had made any statements to the public.
Dumbledore was shocked by this turn of events. Why would Voldemort pull all of his followers to himself like this? Dumbledore could see him killing a few as a lesson to the others, but even he wouldn’t slaughter his own support like this. It must be some second force that did it all.
A second force… like an immortal wizard perhaps? This might be something James Kensit might do. Killing all the leaders of the dark faction lined up perfectly to frame Dumbledore as a megalomaniacal villain to the public.
It was the only thing that made sense. Voldemort was smart enough to not kill them all even if he could. Dumbledore knew he was innocent for those that hadn’t been in Azkaban. James Kensit was the only one with the ability and temperament to do it.
But there was nothing that Dumbledore could do about it at the moment. He could only forge onward and try to locate Voldemort. Right now he would be without supporters. Nearly all were killed between Azkaban and Kensit’s own rampage, so it was just Dumbledore and Voldemort left to fight one on one.
Harry Potter had not been properly guided over these last few years and Dumbledore seriously doubted that anything he did now would change the boy’s views on him. If anything, trying to interfere with him now would only be counterproductive and only push him further into the dark.
Dumbledore had heard some disturbing rumors that Harry Potter had cast dark magic while he was in school. But he paid them no mind, he knew that Harry Potter the beacon to the light would never stoop to such lows. There was a reason why dark magic was illegal in Britain and if Harry had cast such a thing Minerva would have put a stop to it.
He stepped to the side to avoid someone rushing by and thought about how he could locate Voldemort before he could rebuild his following again. Lucius Malfoy… yes, he would know something about it. Time to pay him a visit. Dumbledore was already a criminal, he no longer had anything stopping him from using his power freely for the greater good.
— — —
Lucius Malfoy sat alone in Malfoy manor, his eyes darting in the shadows. Draco was at school and Narcissa had been sent out of the country the instant Lucius returned from the graveyard.
He flinched slightly as he thought he saw movement and drew his wand, but lowered it as nothing happened. Whatever that beast was that was impersonating Harry Potter… it had surprised and killed Lord Voldemort in a few short seconds. Before he apparated away, Lucius had seen it charging the rest, blood dripping from its jaws and arms extended in front of it.
Whatever… that thing was… Lucius knew he stood no chance against it. When he heard the news and received the paper he was only more frightened. Only three of them had made it out. The rest were presumably killed and consumed by the beast. Lucius put a hand to his chest as he remembered the creature's otherworldly roar. Everything around him had twisted and he had felt sick somewhere deep within himself. Even after he apparated away something still felt off. Even days later, he would still have episodes where objects in the corner of his vision would start to twist and distort before settling back into place when he looked straight at them.
Luckily, it was slowly decreasing in frequency but it was making Lucius paranoid. He had never experienced such a magic before, and certainly had never heard of such a dangerous creature before. At least dragons and Phoenixes were obvious when they wished to attack. Avoid their territories, and one was generally safe from them.
But this creature… it could be anyone, disguised as a human. He had shunned all visitors and put up the war wards, holding back even the ministry officials that wanted to question him. The monster could be any one of them waiting to finish the job. Lucius had seen how its head had turned towards him as he apparated away. Would the beast care about revenge? Lucius couldn’t take any chances, so here he was locked up tight and jumping at shadows.
— — —
Lucius was about to head to bed when he heard a noise. The creaking of a floorboard, probably not a hallucination this time. He pointed a wand in that direction, his hand slightly trembling.
“Expelliarmus,” a voice said from in front of him, and Lucius’ wand jerked out of his hand and flew over to the now visible Dumbledore.
Albus Dumbledore caught the wand in his off hand and frowned at Lucius as he backed away in fear. Was it the creature? Could it do magic as well?
“Now, Lucius. No need to be so fearful, I’m simply here for information. Tell me what you know and make an unbreakable vow to never work for Voldemort again, then I will leave peacefully.”
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Lucius paused as he stared at Dumbledore closely, “Are- are…” he said, clearing his throat nervously, “Are you really Dumbledore? You are not just taunting me?”
Dumbledore frowned as he stared at Lucius, “Who else would I be? This fearful state is unlike you, Lucius Malfoy. Do those two things and I’ll let you go free.”
Lucius nearly laughed. The unbreakable vow meant nothing when something like that creature was around. The dark faction was finished politically with all of its leaders except Lucius being eliminated in one fell swoop. And Lucius had no desire to remain a public figure in case the creature saw him in the papers by chance and decided to hunt him down again. Perhaps setting Dumbledore on the creature would be a good thing. Something to distract it while Lucius finished moving his assets and fleeing Britain and Europe in all haste.
He leapt to his feet, “Fine! I’ll do it. I’m leaving Britain soon with my family anyway.”
Dumbledore looked suspicious but held out his hand, which Lucius clasped. Dumbledore used his other hand to cast a complicated spell that formed bright glowing ropes binding their arms together. Usually a third wizard would cast the spell, but Lucius assumed that Dumbledore was skilled enough that he did not need to do that.
“Do you, Lucius Malfoy, swear to never follow the orders or serve under the command of Voldemort ever again and do your best to avoid being involved in organizations that he controls?” Dumbledore intoned.
“I do,” Lucius said solemnly.
“Do you also swear to truthfully and fully answer any question that I, Albus Percival Bryan Dumbledore, ask you for the next seven days to the best of your knowledge?”
Lucius hesitated for a moment before nodding,
“I do,” he said. Given what Dumbledore had done in Azkaban during his escape, Lucius was sure he would be killed if he didn’t comply. He had long thought that Dumbledore had been a weak willed man, unwilling to use his power to make his opponents bend to his will. A representation of everything wrong with the light faction, bending over backwards to deny their wizarding heritage.
But Lucius realized that Dumbledore had simply been holding himself back for all these years. So good at keeping his dirty deeds in the shadows that not even Lucius had suspected him of being capable of such things. Lucius shivered slightly as he thought of what this new unrestrained Dumbledore would do in the future now he appeared to be taking justice into his own hands. Perhaps the end of the Dark Lord Voldemort would signal the rise of the Light Lord Dumbledore to take his place.
“Then, I, Albus Percival Bryan Dumbledore, bind you to your vow. In return, I vow to leave you in peace after our business in concluded. May we die if the terms of this pact is broken,” Dumbledore finished and the glowing ropes flashed once before fading away. In the back of his mind Lucius could feel a terrible feeling welling up within him whenever he considered lying to Dumbledore.
“So, Lucius,” Dumbledore said with a piercing gaze, “Tell me what you know. Where is Voldemort?”
“Dead,” Lucius said honestly, “Alongside most of the other death eaters that answered his call back to his side.”
“How?” Dumbledore shot out seemingly in disbelief at Lucius’ words despite him not being killed by the unbreakable vow.
Lucius described the situation and the unceremonious defeat of the Dark Lord by the creature impersonating Harry Potter.
“Describe this creature as best as you can,” Dumbledore said, his eyes boring into Lucius.
He did so and Dumbledore leaned back looking thoughtful. They stood in silence for a long moment before Dumbledore nodded.
“Concerning…” the man muttered to himself, “Something to look into…”
He looked back up to Lucius and seemed to refocus, “While I have you here, I may as well get the most information I can. Write down as many of the allies of Voldemort as you can remember.”
Lucius nodded and started working as Dumbledore asked questions about every last little detail of Lucius’ time as a death eater and servant of the Dark Lord.
It was an extremely exhausting week of him giving Dumbledore more details than even he had remembered. The man would interrogate him all day and force him to write down names and locations for various events and attacks he had known of. Then in the evening Dumbledore would apparate away, leaving Lucius to collapse back into bed. At least whatever the creature had done with his distorted vision and hallucinations seemed to have worn off by now. He had gotten words from his goblin bankers that his assets were nearly completely transferred to international accounts. The only thing left to sell was the Malfoy estate itself. He would hire a proxy to do it after collecting his family's furniture, things, possessions, and forwarding them to the new estate.
He still had to discuss with Narcissa if they should go to Asia or America.
The ministry officials outside had evolved their strategy into a siege of sorts, battering the war wards of the estate with spells when he didn’t answer their warrant. Despite Dumbledore’s presence, Lucius still was going to report directly to the Ministry so the creature couldn’t ambush him openly inside the building itself. Technically he hadn’t even done anything wrong this time, and being oblivious to the ministry’s efforts to serve the warrant was hardly a serious crime. War wards were a serious business and it was improper for the ministry to be attempting to batter them down as they were doing so right now. It seems the light faction was already moving to spread into the vacuum left behind by the collapse of the dark faction.
Lucius could pay the fine, pull what strings he had left to lighten the punishment he would receive, and then get out of the country. It was unfortunate for his son Draco, but the boy would understand in time. Hogwarts was a substandard school either way, Draco would learn more magic from private tutors while they found a better one for him to attend abroad.
“I think I have everything I need, Lucius,” Dumbledore said at the end of the seventh day.
“I will keep my promise. What are you planning to do now?” he continued.
“Leave the country as soon as possible and never come back,” Lucius said honestly, “I don’t want me or my family to live in a country where a creature like that might have a grudge against me.”
Dumbledore stared at Lucius in silence for a while before lightly humming to himself, “Very well, That is acceptable. Make sure to not fall back into your old death eater habits or national borders may not protect you from the light faction. Or from me if others fail to hold you accountable.”
Lucius nodded even as he sweated internally. As if he didn’t have enough to worry about!
With that Dumbledore waved his wand and vanished from sight, as if he was never there. Lucius took a deep breath and opened a small hole in the war wards. It was time to turn himself over to the ministry and clear whatever charges the light faction had trumped up against him.
Lucius didn’t like it, but it had to be done if he wanted to leave Britain peacefully. At least Narcissa was abroad, she could care for Draco if the worst should happen to Lucius and everything went wrong.
— — —
As Dumbledore interrogated Lucius Malfoy, there was a crack of displaced air as Kreacher the old house elf appeared in an abandoned graveyard. In his hand was the horcrux formed from the stolen locket of Slytherin.
Kreacher peered into the cauldron that still sat in the middle of the splattered blood coating the nearby gravestones and ground. There near the bottom was about a quarter of the black fluid that had been there originally.
‘Not enough fluid for a full body… But a good base for a new potion that could do the job,’ the horcrux hissed,
‘Servant, apparate that cauldron and its contents to the temporary base. Next I will need you to collect some ingredients for me…’
“Yes, Master,” Kreacher said woodenly as he snapped his fingers and followed the horcrux's commands. He knew that the locket was not truly bound to him with binding orders through their magic. But the locket's magics made Kreacher believe he should follow its orders anyway. So he apparated away and began gathering the ingredients Lord Voldemort needed to return to life.
— — —
Dumbledore inspected the old graveyard closely, casting several spells on the area to help his analysis.
It was clear that many people had been killed here. Blood and little scraps of black cloth littered the area, even some small chunks of flesh were left behind. Dumbledore’s spells came back to nothing, revealing nothing about the perpetrator. The creature as Lucius Malfoy had called it. A creature that had assisted Harry Potter in escaping the Dursleys twice in a row seemingly without attacking the boy at all.
Dumbledore knew that Lucius believed that he was telling the truth, but that didn’t mean that it was so. Voldemort had already returned to life once, there was no telling if he would be able to do so again. The potions cauldron that Malfoy had mentioned was gone, which Dumbledore found suspicious. The beast certainly wouldn’t care about such a potion. Even if it did it wouldn’t take the cauldron itself with it, only its contents.
So likely a few of Voldemort's supporters had either returned to his place or Voldemort was still out there, only more weakened from before. It wasn’t over until Dumbledore received full confirmation of Voldemort’s demise.
He spent some time casting a few subtle wards on the area to alert him of any more intruders and to set a trap for them then apparated away again. He should start checking back on his old allies and start giving some explanations. There was still a chance that most of them would understand and if not get him pardoned by the ministry, then at least open themselves up to working with him again for the greater good.