Chapter 161: Ripple
31st October 1995, Hogwarts (Earth 2)
(Albus Dumbledore POV)
If one were to have said to Albus Dumbledore that the Ministry would have simply given up their little man hunt they had for him and young Harry, he would have told them to lay off the potions and get a good night's sleep.
But now, after a simple board meeting, something that shouldn’t even affect the Ministry too much, things have changed. Dumbledore didn’t even think it was possible for things to change this quickly in the political scene.
And it was all because of his newest professor, a young woman who for the first time since Tom Riddle roamed these halls, lived up to the title of genius, not just in magic but in politics and probably many more. The words 'genius', and 'brightest witch of a generation', were always thrown around. Take Ms. Granger, for example. The girl had a wonderful memory and would probably excel in mind magic, should she choose to specialize in it. But did she earn the title of ‘Brightest Witch of her generation’? Of course not. The girl had no sense of wonderment and appreciation for the chaotic nature of magic, something that would hold her back immensely if she chose to pursue a mastery in anything but arithmancy.
But Jasmine Sayre, was different. She reminded Albus of himself and Gellert. A true magical prodigy, one who was supposedly a scholar, but what happened in the board meeting showed the depth of her political mind.
Albus wasn’t sure that even he could have done the same. She had somehow turned the meeting from her own evaluation into Umbridge’s, she turned the board against the Ministry, by playing on their pride, and the former Undersecretary’s disregard for their authority. This was done masterfully. Sayre had known exactly which buttons to push and had somehow ousted Umbridge from her position and used the board’s connections to the Wizengamot to spread chaos in the Ministry.
It was like a domino effect. The board members' displeasure with Fudge’s administration through Sayre’s manipulations showed the other members about how the Minister was stomping over their rights as well. Things kept snowballing from there, from accusations of embezzlement, taking bribes, of prioritizing certain departments over others, and lack of impartiality when dealing with conflicts.
The Ministry was divided, and Fudge’s already flimsy control over the Ministry was falling. The man was so focused on trying to regain control over the situation that he forgot all about young Harry and Albus.
The aged Headmaster had expected this to happen after Voldemort’s inevitable reveal, but it was a welcome break from the constant attacks he was fending off. It gave him enough time to search for Tom’s Horcruxes.
All of this, because of a single school meeting. One school teacher, alone, without the use of any violence or any threats, using only words, had completely destabilized Britain’s political scene which could very likely remove Fudge from his post as Minister. All because he had instructed his Undersecretary to find a way to remove Sayre from the castle so that he could have more influence over Hogwarts’ affairs.
To say that this raised Sayre’s position as a threat would be an understatement and obviously, he wasn’t the only one who thought so. The aged Headmaster was informed by Severus that his Slytherins were actually terrified of the woman and the depth of her reach. Albus had to admit that this woman’s political mind was the best one he had seen in his life.
It was truly a shame that she refused to involve herself in his conflict with Tom. She would have been a valuable ally, that’s even discounting her skills in magic, which he hasn’t tested yet, but was sure were formidable. But he was also relieved that she didn’t join the order. She would have probably usurped him somehow if he tried to enforce his authority over her.
And now Albus Dumbledore was in a conundrum. He, now, had a loose cannon in his castle, an unplanned piece, one that he couldn’t afford to aggravate, one that could ruin many of his plans, especially with young Harry.
He was especially wary of her relationship with young Harry. The defense professor had helped him immensely when she removed the soul shard from Harry’s scar. Albus had tested it himself later, not taking the woman at her word, but from the sounds of it, she was able to destroy two other Horcruxes on her own, something that put her ahead of Dumbledore in terms of destroyed Horcruxes. She had also confirmed how many soul anchors Voldemort had made. Dumbledore was still planning on visiting Slughorn to confirm but seven Horcruxes sounded about right. This also meant that more than half the horcruxes were destroyed, and she had given him a clue that Slytherin’s locket might be another one.
To think that all this time, the curse was powered by a Horcrux, from the room of hidden things of all places. It allowed the curse to be independent from the wards and hide from him, which explains how he never found it.
Now, back to Sayre, Albus was worried about her relationship with young Harry. She seemed to take an interest in him and young Neville, the two possible prophecy candidates. That can’t be a coincidence. Although, she had only made sure that young Neville caught up on his education, but she was actively teaching young Harry magic. He wasn’t sure exactly what it was, there was a secrecy charm involved that he couldn’t crack, but it could be something dangerous.
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Albus had decided to stop maddening himself with possibilities and just call the defense professor to his office. Albus felt the wards telling him of her arrival and let her through.
He gave her a jovial smile, “Ah, Professor Sayre, thank you for coming.”
The woman in front of him just nodded, “Of course Headmaster. Is there something you wish to ask of me?”
The aged Headmaster nodded, “ah, yes. I wanted to ask about your lessons with young Harry.”
The woman straightened up, “Alright, what do you want to know?”
“What do they entail, really? I wish to know what you have been teaching him, and how you have been teaching him.”
The woman snorted, “I am doing what you wouldn’t do. I am teaching him how to fight, properly fight, that is. I am teaching him his family’s legacy, something that shouldn’t concern you.”
Dumbledore frowned, “What legacy are you talking about? James never mentioned anything in his will.”
The woman’s green eyes glowed slightly, “I’m not talking about his legacy as a Potter but his legacy as a Peverell.”
Suddenly, everything froze. Dumbledore hadn’t even thought about the infamous Peverell family ever since he gave Harry his father’s invisibility cloak during his first year. This was a family famous for the Hallows’ existence, rumored to have beaten Death itself. But even more so, the Peverell family was extremely feared in the past. He and Gellert had tried to unearth their secrets, but their efforts were unfruitful.
“I don’t know what you are talking about, Professor Sayre.”
The defense professor snorted, “Don’t pretend that you don’t know exactly what I’m talking about, especially with that wand in your possession.” She gestured to the elder wand in Albus’ hand and he tensed immediately, expecting a fight for the wand, “Don’t worry, I’m not interested in the wand, or Harry’s cloak for that matter. I don’t care about the Hallows; they’re a lot more trouble than they’re worth, I think that you’ll attest to that. However, I am the first one to unearth the Peverell family magic and I have started Harry’s education towards being the next wielder of our family magic. There are currently three people with Peverell blood, Harry Potter, Tom Riddle and myself. I do not wish for my family’s legacy to die with me, and since I cannot have any children, I had to choose an heir that could actually use our family magic. I think Harry is a better choice than Tom Riddle, don’t you?”
Dumbledore started to pale at the implication. She knows how to use the Peverell family magic, something that from the ancient tales was something that was so powerful that armies gave up when they knew that a Peverell had joined the battle. A mere mention of the Peverells were enough to make grown men shiver. It was a reputation that was rightly gained. As the old saying went, “To fight a Peverell is to fight Death itself."
This raised her threat level dramatically. He had to get a form of control over her, somehow, “If you’re this invested in Harry, then why don’t you actively fight Voldemort, a man who is actively trying to kill him?”
The young woman shrugged, “I am teaching him how to defeat the abomination. No heir of mine will cower like a child while others die for him. He will fight his own battles and gain his own victories. He will learn to fight, and should he die, then I’ll kill his murderers myself as retribution.”
Dumbledore stiffened at the mention of death, “Why do you so easily resort to death?”
“Oh, Albus Dumbledore, there are so many things far worse than death. Peverells have always had a unique relationship with the afterlife. I don’t expect you to understand.”
“Do you truly think that I’m going to let you turn an innocent young boy into a weapon, a monster?”
The woman stood up, “Let’s make this straight, Albus Dumbledore. You have failed this young man, not only as a mentor but as his guardian. You have deprived him of his childhood and would have deprived him of his adulthood if I hadn’t removed the soul shard in his scar. You have doomed this young man to live a miserable life with a few scraps of happiness and love, just to fulfill your little prophecy. What you think is best for him doesn’t matter anymore because you have proved to me that you don’t actually care about the boy.”
“How dare you, I care a great deal about the boy.”
“And how did you show it? All you have done for him is make sure he lives in a home he despises, where he is actively mistreated, giving him a few little hints here and there when he’s risking his life foolishly and finally awarding him points afterwards. That’s the depth of your relationship with him. No matter how much you claim to love the boy, all you have done for him, is just observe him and nothing more. The boy has already lost his parents because of you, and you certainly haven’t taken care of him afterwards. Your methods weren’t working, so I’m doing it my way.”
Dumbledore sat down in shame, with his failures stripped bare in front of him, “But…”
“Let me make things absolutely clear, you have no claim over Harry. You have lost whatever feeble authority you have over him. But don’t be sad, you already have enough on your plate. Voldemort isn’t going to kill himself.”
“But the Prophecy…”
“Fuck the Prophecy! Imagine for one minute that the prophecy never happened, or that it was made up, what would you do?”
It was an intriguing idea, one that he had avoided in guilt of what he has done to make sure that the prophecy would be fulfilled the way he wanted it to.
While he was deep in his thoughts, the woman revealed, “Oh, I found Slytherin’s locket and destroyed it. It was at Grimmauld place. You can check with Sirius since he was there when I destroyed it. It was quite a tale of death and noble sacrifice. Such a beautiful and sad story it was.”
Dumbledore immediately stood up, panicked, “How did you get inside Grimmauld Place?”
“You should know the dangers of relying on the Fidelius Charm, Dumbledore. All it takes is one mistake for things to go badly. Yours was the fact that you wrote the secret on a piece of parchment before you destroyed it. All it took was a compulsion charm in switching the parchment with an empty one without destroying it and carrying it in their pocket. They never even noticed it happening. And finally, all it took was a small cutting charm in one of their pockets, and boom, I know the secret.”
Dumbledore was dumfounded from the revelation. In his attempt to not waste his time, he had given out a few pieces of parchment to Alastor Moody, and precisely asked for them to be destroyed every time they left the house.
He had thought that this method was foolproof and wouldn’t cause a security issue. Albus could imagine Pettigrew using the same method as Sayre and sending Voldemort with enough of his Death Eaters to the house to slaughter their opposition in a single night. Albus was thankful that she had revealed this security risk.
He turned to look at her, to find that the woman had disappeared, instead there was a small piece of parchment, “You spent a good five minutes not talking so I left. I have papers to grade after all. Have a good night!!”
Albus chuckled. No matter how dangerous this witch was, at least she had a sense of style.