Silence of the Winters; CH:23- Homecoming (Part:1)

Ahoy mates! This is chapter twenty-three of ‘Silence of the Winters’. Hopefully you’ll like it and comment on how it was? Fingers crossed.

Out with my rant, Here you go!

“I am Talking.”

‘I am Thinking’

Spells

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You can visit the entire world and still your heart yearns for the one place that you called ‘Home’.

~ R-Kade

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Previously in SotW:

A black wraith emerging from the place where Quirrell’s head should’ve been and opening its mouth in a mute agonising scream was the last thing Harry saw before his vision turned black and he fell unconscious.

Silence of the Winters

-Dev Sagittarius Black

~~Chapter 23: Homecoming (Part:1)~~

Releasing the torrent of air which had been circulating his respiratory system, cold green eyes looked ahead, devoid of all the emotions that their owner was being tormented with.

It was mid June and exam season had just ended, students were given a week long holiday from classes while the papers were being corrected.

Therefore the group as a whole had decided to hangout in 'their' spot which was amid the large roots underneath the shade of the old oak tree near the black lake.

It was a typical summer day, with typical sunshine and typical breeze, typical laughter, typical talks and a typical day. Everything was ‘typical’ except what was going through Harry’s mind, regarding a few things that had happened in the past few days, especially on that day.

Harry had woken up to a white ceiling and a hard bed, Pomfrey had been out and there were a few blinking lights glowing all around him, he knew they were telling his health status and that one of them would have already alerted the Matron about his return to consciousness.

Pomfrey was shocked with his recovery rate, that he had somehow managed to recover seventy-five percent of his lost magic and had cured his physical ailments within three days, something that would have taken an average magic wielder about ten days at the very least.

There were flowers, chocolates and everything around him and his wand was on the bedside table. His memory was a bit dull as his mind was still not completely recovered, thankfully, it was mrning hours when he had awoken therefore there wasn’t anyone near his bed.

“You have really good friends Potter, cherish them.” That’s what Madam Pomfrey had told Harry when she had described how each one of them had visited when he was unconscious and how she had to kick them out forcefully and then prevent them from sneaking in.

‘Stupid dumbheads, I was unconscious, not dead, you were doing nothing more than irritating the person who’s one mistake could have cost me something serious’ Harry thought as he watched the giant squid laze around in the lake and eat the bread crumbs dropped in the water by the Weasley twins.

Exams were obviously too easy for him as the elemental’s advanced brain was too powerful with an impeccable amount of accuracy for recalling information and utilising it with precision in formulating the best possible answers which the mortal mind could comprehend.

Ergo, it was excruciatingly painful to decrease his mental prowess to the level of the sheep he resided with, just so he could bore his professors with above average answers at best.

Thankfully, his mental capabilities got a bit of leeway in Potions because of two reasons, one was of course Snivellous and the other was he was widely proclaimed as a potions prodigy, which worked in his favour, therefore for Potions, he had released three out of the five thought processes he possessed.

The entire school was awaiting the results because then they would be able to leave the school grounds and go back to their homes, to enjoy the summer vacations and their meagre lives caged between four walls, in their delusions of safety.

Harry wasn’t one of them. No, the elemental knew what his result was going to be alongwith the fact that he would never believe in the delusions of safety when there were thousands of criminals running around causing havoc and millions of individuals being tortured everyday.

The mage knew that his previous win against Voldemort had been a fluke, he knew there was no way that the Dark Lord could have lost if it hadn’t been for his momentary decision to tell him that the stone was already stolen.

Harry knew that if not for that, the situation would have been entirely different. The Potter and Peverell houses would have died that night and would only have been the first ones among the many that followed.

Dumbledore would have been able to stop Quirrell if he had reached the mirror chamber in time but Harry knew that he would have been dead that night if not for that lucky fluke and Voldemort’s distracted self.

‘All that training, all those hours in the rooms, all of my early mornings and late nights, my elemental training ....everything turned out to be a waste. Something that couldn’t stand against Voldemort’ Harry released another breath as he looked around.

‘Have I not trained enough to achieve my full potential? Did I lack the discipline required to master the art of defence and protection of the weak? Did I let those easy victories last year delude my mind into hubris?’ Harry glared at the boy that he saw was coming towards him.

‘Maybe I have. Maybe I have indeed gone lax…maybe I’ve indeed forgotten my true purpose and how I am who I am…if not for those, I’d have had not let Voldemort win last night. Yes it was my victory, but it was a fluke, something that could have gone wrong if Voldemort had decided to punish me instead of Quirrell.’

“Harry, what do you say?” Susan asked him to which he looked at the redhead sitting towards his right with a confused frown “Pardon?”

‘But what did I do wrong? Where did I lose my path? What changed in me? Why did I deviate?....Why?’

Susan frowned a bit but repeated her previous statement “I said, that considering the fact that you agreed for a week-long stay at The Ossuary, how about we do it at the end of the vacation, right Hannah?” Susan asked the boy sitting beside her as she looked towards her best friend.

It had been Hannah’s idea, that since Harry had agreed to vacation, then why not ask him to visit you in the week that you had your birthday? At that time it had seemed such an exciting idea, now though? She wasn’t that sure.

“Yeah.” Hannah began,”I mean, we could go get the school shopping done too and then we could leave for Hogwarts together too right? If that’s not much of a hassle?”

Harry thought about it before nodding “Works for me.”

Susan gave a sun-shaming smile before hugging Harry shouting a loud ‘Thank you’ making Terry laugh while Su looked at the auburn haired girl with narrowed eyes. Harry on the other hand gave a simple grunt and went back to his thoughts.

Susan was happy, yes. This was what she had wanted, Harry had agreed to visit her during the week when she’d have her birthday, it was supposed to be really happy news. And it was, but there was something missing.

Something that had been missing for the past month, from the day that they had missed Harry during breakfast and their house heads had told them about Harry’s presence in the Hogwarts Hospital Wing.

Susan can still remember the day as clear as a mirror’s reflection, she had been devastated. Almost everyone in their, admittedly, large circle had been, including Daphne whom they had never seen show much emotions regarding Harry.

Harry had always been a pillar for all of them, someone whom everyone looked up to, someone who’d never fall even after being battered. They had never decided it but inherently everyone knew that Harry was the group’s Alpha.

And to see him in such a condition was heart wrenching Broken bones, burnt flesh, bloodied limbs with scars over his upper torso. It had seemed as if Harry had battled a monster from the old legends that night while they had been sleeping peacefully.

Each of them visited him whenever they got time and it was a unanimous rule that they would immediately tell each other the moment their friend regained consciousness. Surprisingly enough, the list of visitors had included Professors McGonagall and Sinistra  as well as Madam Pince.

But most surprising of them all was Hermione Granger. Susan knew she shouldn’t have been that hostile towards her batchmate, but she didn’t know why she had been…probably because it was the first day?

In the end Hannah had let Hermione stay because, well there was no reason for her not to stay except the fact that the Grffindor girl hanged around with Weasley and the boy-who-should-be-cursed-repeatedly, thankfully neither of them were here.

Well, the day Harry regained consciousness, each of them had been over the moon.  For Susan, his entry into the Great Hall that day at lunch had been like an angel coming straight from God's palace.

And it had been. Until the girl had hugged Harry. His feeling, the way his magic responded to her, it was not how it usually did. She had never been good with feeling magic, still she was perceptive enough to know who had the best and who had the worst intentions.

There was a certain feel to the person’s magic which her aunt had trained her in, just so she could stay away from those who’d want to use her because of her Aunt’s position in the DMLE.

That feeling told her that Harry, the boy who had gone into the hospital, was different from the one who came out.

Susan had been skeptical about this at first, but over time, she and others noticed the change in Harry’s behavior. The way he would stare distantly, the way he would be lost in some sort of deep thought process.

The way, Harry’s soft green eyes would suddenly become raging infernos that would glare at nothing in particular before he would release a deep breath as if he had just finished off an internal battle against himself.

And slowly, everyone else along with Susan noticed how closed off Harry was becoming with himself, he wouldn't smile the small dimpled smiles he had come to show in the last few months, he would not even say anything unless specified.

But the biggest change was, he would simply wander off in his own mind and ignore everything else, like he had been doing before  but everyone knew that even if he was simply ignoring them, he was still implicitly aware of what was going around him.

But after that day, Harry’s descent into his mind was always followed by complete unawareness and ignorance of his surroundings. It was as if he would quite simply lose himself completely.

‘What happened to you Harry? Why are you making a wall around yourself? Why are you undoing everything that we have built? Why Harry? Why are you destroying yourself? What happened that night?’ Susan looked at her friend worriedly as he glared at the lake in front of them.

Harry on the other hand was still glaring at the boy who was about to join them very soon with an obviously frustrating news, if the hurried look on his face was any indication.

“Harry Potter?”

Harry looked up at the unknown boy with his right eyebrow raised, along with everyone else.

“Headmaster Dumbledore has summoned you to his office tonight after dinner, password is ‘Piplup’.”

‘I was waiting for you headmaster, it’s a surprise that it took you so long to call me, makes me think as to what you were planning for’ Harry just gave a nod and sent the boy away.

“Harry, what do you think it could be?” Daphne asked him, frowning at the boy.

“Let’s see, it’s still a surprise, hopefully it remains a surprise and doesn’t turn into a shock.” Harry muttered.

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‘Knock Knock’

“Come in Harry!” Harry had almost rolled his eyes at that same little trick that the headmaster played on everyone to show his strength and superiority in a subtle way.

Harry entered the room and saw the headmaster sitting on his throne like chair behind his desk, smiling at him with twinkling eyes.

‘This is most certainly going to end in a headache’ both of them thought as Harry stood straight with his hands behind his back “Headmaster.”

“Hello Harry, will you be so kind as to take a seat or are we in a hurry today too?” Dumbledore let out a small chuckle which irritated Harry because he couldn’t see what was so funny about this, so he did the smart thing and didn’t respond, at all.

“Well, aren’t you going to take a seat, Harry?”  Dumbledore asked again as he looked at Harry with twinkling blue eyes. Surprisingly, enough Harry didn’t shift one bit.

“Harry?”

But Harry kept staring at the old headmaster straight into his eyes, without moving an inch.

“What’s wrong?” Dumblledore asked as his twinkle dimmed a bit ‘Why are you acting like this Potter? Just sit already, this meeting is quite long as it is’

“Headmaster, I think you’re forgetting our last meeting, did I ever ask you to call me by my name and so much familiarity? I don’t think we ever had a talk after that last one. How can you assume that I would allow that to happen now if I didn’t let it pass last time?” Harry asked him.

Dumbledore’s smile stiffened a bit but he relaxed immediately “Ofcourse-Ofcourse Mr. Potter. I am sorry for that small mistake on my part, now will you please take a seat as, I am afraid, this meeting is quite long and we have to discuss a few things.”

“Sure Headmaster.” Harry’s sensor sheet alerted him about the rune plate that was sewed in the chair’s cushion to make the person sitting on it more susceptible to Dumbledore’s manipulations.

But Harry knew that it was more like a small chronic compulsion charm that continuously affected the person sitting on it, he was graded five occlumens, it would take that rune plate hours before it could even penetrate his shields.

Harry sat down on the chair and looked straight into the headmaster's eyes, “Now, professor, I’d like to know why I’ve been called to your office?”

Dumlbledore nodded and pushed an envelope forward “These are your reports Mr. Potter, would you like to see it?”

“No, I don’t want to see it.” Harry refused, knowing full well where Dumbledore would go with it.

“Indeed? Well that’s surprising but I still think it’s a cause of concern Mr Potter, your report card says that  your practical side of magic is ‘average’ while you have a relatively better grasp on theory than say eighty percent of your batchmates.” Dumbledore stopped Harry from interrupting.

“I know for a fact that you are better at practical magic than almost everyone in the class, I’ve heard tales of exactly how you killed that troll months ago. I thought of that as a fluke but after your…fiacsco, last month in that chamber, I’ll assume that you can control your magic and use it better than everyone else.”

Harry simply sat in front of the aged headmaster with a blank face, not showing any of his emotions regarding anything that was going on around him.

“So, the question arises Mr Potter?” The twinkling stopped entirely as Dumbledore looked straight at the boy sitting in front “Why have you forcefully decreased your prowess? Why are you forcing this absurd idea of being an average student when in reality you are head and shoulders above everyone else?”

“I don’t know what you’re saying, Headmaster, my scores in everything are the best I could’ve done. Regarding that chamber, I had heard Alandale and Weasley say something about it that day in the library, that’s why I  followed them and that spell? It was a lucky shot.” Harry told him all of this with a straight face.

Dumbledore looked at the boy and shook his head tiredly. “I didn’t play word games with you Mr Potter because I’d assumed that you might not like them, so please, I’d request you to not undermine my intelligence either.”

Harry did frown at that ‘Is there something he knows that he is not telling me?’

“Your magical signature Potter, your story about hearing it might be true but that doesn’t explain that extra alert ward I found on the door to the third floor corridor, so you just happening to do something like that is an excuse at best and a lie at worst.” Dumbledore clarified and smiled when he saw a minute snear crawl on Harry’s face ‘Got you!’

Harry heaved a sigh as he looked at the old wizard “I was curious about the corridor yes. That’s why I learned the alert ward spell from the library to alert me if someone crossed it. I hadn’t used it before but that day, I was suspicious about their plans. So, I did it.”

Dumbledore smiled at the boy ‘So masterful in deceiving others, aren’t you?’ “Ofcourse-Ofcourse, so, is that why everything in that chamber was destroyed and don’t lie Mr Potter, I’ve seen Alan’s memory about that night, he wasn’t there the whole time, it was you who had been fighting Quirinus.”

“Some of those spells, I might be old Mr Potter, but I am a transfigurations master. I could easily sense the usage of animation and transfiguration charms that both you and him used.” Dumbledore’s eyes narrowed at the boy.

Harry mentally cursed himself for forgetting to wipe that Mosswipe’s memories and planting false ones ‘I knew it, I was forgetting something! I am really going lax now’

“The Restricted Section is a place of knowledge Headmaster, I might be ignorant and have given an oath to not touch anything that’s dark but that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t learn anything that could help me later. The spells you saw were examples of those.” Harry clarified his statement and hoped that Dumbles would buy his excuse.

“So, you’re saying that you learnt all those forbidden highly taxing spells, practiced enough to use them in a battle where one can’t make a mistake even a small mistake, had that much magical power to hold the spells and you’re still average in practical magic. Is this what you’re saying, Potter?”

‘Nicely cooked headmaster, why am I not surprised you took this much time to summon me, you’ve already turned every stone that could’ve been turned’ Harry simply looked ahead and nodded ‘I guess it is, time to reveal a few things’

“I admit that I have the skills Headmaster, but to show them or not is my personal choice. If I used all of my skills then do you think I’d remain as a mediocre student?” Harry asked him.

“Then my question changes. Why are you hiding your skills? What is your motive behind doing so?” Dumbledore moved forward and released a bit of his magic causing the air around him to thicken.

Harry simply shrugged, “Nothing harmful, I assure you. But I must say that for now, it’s in your benefit to help me in concealing my abilities.” Harry knew he was playing a big gamble now, but the second and third options were even more drastic and he wasn’t ready to use them yet.

Dumbledore had almost smiled in triumph when he saw Harry finally admit something, Almost, “What do you mean?”

“Look at Professor Quirrell for example, I didn’t know he was the one who was trying to steal the stone and Quirrell lost because he underestimated me, and we both know how it ended.” Harry shrugged again.

“Therefore, if another adversary comes, shouldn’t it be beneficial that they don’t know about my skills? They’ll likely make the same mistake again and will suffer because of that, just like their predecessors did.”

Dumbledore frowned at this, now that he thought about it like that it was actually a really good point ‘The best place to hide is in plain sight…’. Not to mention, this could help him get The Potter Heir’s trust and then he might be able to manipulate-err guide the second Lord Potter too.

But for that to happen…”I can see the benefits of this, you could become more like a living moderator whom no one suspects and thus would show their sides to you that was normally hidden from the general populace, but I need to assess your skills for that.”

Harry quirked his left eyebrow at that last statement, he hadn't known that Dumbledore would take up his half-ass fabrications but…assesing skills?

“Yes Mr Potter, I need to know how much you are capable of and when I should interfere in your things. Also, it would be beneficial if you reported anything out of the ordinary straight to me.”

Dumbledore smiled at Harry “We can even work as a small team to help proper functioning of Hogwarts, I am willing to give you special privileges that would help you much more, like a forever access to the Restricted Section for one and anything else that-”

“No.” Harry glared at Dumbledore with cold hate filled green eyes ‘It’s all the same for you lot isn’t it? You politicians never let any opportunity to control and gain support go by, do you?’

“What?” Dumbledore asked the boy, frowns marring his forehead.

“I said no Headmaster, I am not going to become your personal puppet for controlling this school. I am not interested in anything that you could offer and I am most certainly ‘not’ going to show you my battle prowess.” Harry glared back at the Headmaster with leashed fury.

The air that had normalised earlier thickened again as temperature dropped in the office beecause Dumbledore had again released his magic “You seem to be deluded Mr Potter…let me rephrase my earlier statement, it wasn’t a request, you have to show your skills, or I’ll have to report you to the DMLE for voluntarily and knowingly killing a Hogwarts Professor.”

Harry’s eyes darkened and the things on the far end of the office started to tremble as he released his magic in the office, the air was so thick that one could cut it with a knife.

“I think it’s you who is deluded Headmaster, you seem to have something called narcissistic personality disorder, it was first identified by a muggle healer in 1898, I think you should look it up. It basically means that a person gets something akin to a ‘God complex’ and therefore thinks he is always right and that everyone should do what he says.”

Dumbledore looked at Harry and gave a tight lipped smile “I know that I am mortal and thus I do make mistakes, why I mistakenly wore wrong socks yesterday and today I almost forgot to clean my purple dress robes. Eccentric? I have heard that but a mental patient? Careful there Mr Potter.”

“Is the Headmaster of Hogwarts threatening a first year student in their office?” Harry asked with an innocent smile on his face forcing Dumbledore to stop his line of thinking.

The Chief Warlock knew the mistake he almost made and thus gave an uneasy chuckle as he dissipated his power and leaned back in his chair ‘I don’t know how you are a claw, because that cunning only deserved Slytherin’

“I think we are misunderstanding each other’s intentions.” Dumbledore said as twinkle returned in his eyes “I only wanted to know your skills to ensure your as well as the school’s safety, also to know that you aren’t learning anything dark in the name of defense.”

“Then you don’t have to worry Headmaster, because I haven’t touched a single dark arts book in the Restricted Section, after all I gave an oath to Professor Flitwick regarding that. And as far as ‘safety’ goes, I think I did pretty well against Quirrell who had a mastery in DADA, I think I'll be able to handle others too.” Harry admitted and dissipated his magic as he leaned back.

Dumbledore frowed at this, this is not what he wanted, the boy was again doing the same thing: Twisting his words and setting out decisions by himself, this is not how someone treats their Headmaster who also happens to be Albus Dumbledore!

“Now, Mr Potter, I am sure you understand the reason behind my suggestions, I don’t know why you’re trying to hide-”

“Nothing to hide Headmaster, and yes I understand the reason behind your words quite well indeed, you have my wellbeing as your primary concern which is appreciated, in fact I’ll go as far as to say that when I step up as Lord Potter on my fifteenth birthday and take my seat on the Hogwarts Board of Governors, I’ll be more than happy to support a few right causes.”

Harry smiled internally when he saw Dumbledore pause ‘I knew it! That’s all that you want! House Potter-Peverell to support you, bribery always works with you people’

“But the Potters aren’t on the board of governors, they haven’t been there since 1931, are you planning to bring back the Potter house into politics?” Dumbledore queried the young heir.

“There are some plans, yes. But as of now, I can’t tell you anything. All things considered, I still don’t know much about exactly what or how I will do it, the school library has surprisingly little information on my ancestry.” Harry admitted and narrowed his eyes at the Headmaster who nodded.

“I removed the Potter-Peverell and Longbottom ancestry books back during the first war, and reinstalling them didn’t seem much work. You can take them if you want but they aren’t much anyways, your House was one of the most secretive ones, actually, this gives rise to another question Mr Potter.” Dumbledore steepled his fingers as he looked at the boy.

“Oh? and what might that be?”

“I had to check your residence due to academic affairs Mr Potter but it seems that you don’t live where your address is mentioned. I’d like to know your current residence so that I am able to communicate with your guardians regarding your scholastics and extra curricular activities.”

Dumbbledore looked at Harry whose face was as if it was made of stone. No emotions, not even a slight twitch, nothing but cold hard eyes glared back ‘Hmm…let’s see if this works or not…Legilimens’

Harry felt the slight intrusion in his walls and smirked, he could have done so much right at that moment. He could’ve burned the magic, or pulled Dumbledore into his mental prison, or shocked the wizard to the core or-or..well, he didn’t do any of that.

Why? Harry knew that the consequences of making the headmaster his enemy were dire and that the cons weighed more than the pros, right now he was here to get himself off, not get watched even more.

“I’d suggest you not do that again, Headmaster but I am sure you have my best interests at heart, so I'll let it go this one time. Now about the guardians, I am still living in Privet Drive. But, my guardians took a long vacation, you can send owls to the house, it will reach my guardians.” Harry shrugged and relaxed a bit.

‘Looks like the compulsion rune is finally working’ Dumbledore smiled “Yes Mr Potter, of course. But I would like to know where you live, are your guardians supportive of your magical education?” Dumbledore’s face was inquisitive, but Harry knew what that old coot wanted to know.

“Yes headmaster, perfectly happy. They even brought me new clothes and every other utility that was available for students attending Hogwarts. I am glad I got such good guardians, won’t ever want them to come to any harm.” Harry smiled but not at his thoughts, it was more at the face Dumbles was making.

“You…like your guardians? They didn’t beat you or anything? They didn’t ask you to stop doing weird things around them?” Dumbledore’s thoughts were racing a mile a minute, he didn’t know what was actually going on here.

“You should be happy Headmaster instead you somehow seem to be more worried, it’s as if you wanted them to harm me. But that’s not possible right? Because you care for my well being, right? Well I will tell you a secret.” Harry leaned forward along with Dumbledore.

“My guardians were exactly like you said they were. But after going on an extended vacation, they have become more loving and accepting. I am not complaining and I am sure you would be happy with that information too.” Harry leaned back in his chair.

“But Mr Potter, I need to know if you are being left alone or something? The world is a dangerous place for one as young as yourself, I could track down your relatives and persuade them to take you in.”

Maybe it was something wrong that he had said, maybe it was the sudden shift in the weather or maybe it was that his age finally caught up to him and he was going senile, but Dumbledore suddenly felt the temperature in the room drop rapidly.

It was as if an unknown blizzard was about to come that would freeze the entirety of Hogwarts and all of its residents before leaving the lands to conquer the world. And then the feeling of dread disappeared entirely. Dumbledore took a few large gulps of air and blinked as drops of sweat travelled down his forehead.

“I don’t think that they’d like that Professor, I am thankful that you are so concerned about my wellbeing but I’d like you to know that I am perfectly fine and happy as it is.” Harry said with a tight lipped smile and although the thirteen year old boy had tried his best to hide it, a steely edge was still noticeable in his words.

“In fact, now that you mention it, I’d like to know exactly why you wanted to discuss my academics with my guardians, I thought that my academics were pretty good throughout the school session and almost everyone in my class was at the same level as me.”

Dumbledore’s eyes widened ‘Oh no…he’s still not under the influence of the compulsion rune’ the headmaster laughed a bit hesitatingly as he tried to come up with an excuse for this slip-up, meanwhile Harry calmly looked at the Chief Warlock.

“I mean, it wasn’t much of a concern per se, it was more because you are Alan’s brother and James and Lily’s son. They were very close to me and saw me as a guiding figure. That’s why I took some special interest in you, completely professional, just so I could talk to your relatives regarding your average practical work.”

“Shouln’t you be more concerned that Alandale has and had below average performance throughout the year?” Harry inquired the Headmaster who nodded.

“Yes, and seeing as Alan is my ward, I have indeed tried my best to correct him, I am sure, he will start working on his knowledge soon, but he’s still a child, as are you Harry. That’s why I was a bit more concerned.” Dumbledore smiled his grandfatherly smile trying his best to hide his nervousness.

Harry knew completely well that the Headmaster was lying, but this lie helped him get away with the excuse of his current residence, so he didn’t pursue it. It’s not like his real guardians didn’t know about Dumbledore anyways.

“I appreciate your concern Headmaster, this is why I’d like you to either ask me to send my guardians any letter that you want to deliver to my guardians or send it straight to my residence which you’re so fond of visiting for apparently no real reason.”

Dumbledore again gave a small chuckle as he cursed his rotten luck for not being able to get a single thing out of the elusive boy “I’ll keep that in my mind for future reference.”

“If that’s all Headmaster?” Harry started to get up from his seat only to be stopped by the Headmaster “It isn’t Mr Potter,  I’d like to ask one last question and I want a straight answer this time.”

The two looked at each other, Harry knew what was about to come and Dumbledore was prepared to drill every single detail out of the boy, he had let go of the previous two questions only because he was sure that he’d get those answers sometime in the future, but leaving this? Not a chance.

“What happened that night in that chamber Mr Potter? And this time, I want all the details.”

.

Harry rubbed his forehead as he tried not to think about that accursed meeting. The only good thing that came out of that one meeting was the fact that he had been able to keep his skills and his residence as well as much of his previous knowledge regarding Voldemort a secret.

Harry told the headmaster about how he had followed the trio after he had sensed them, then he had tried to stop Alan from going in, he knew it wasn’t Snape because Snape knew about the cerberus as he had seen Snape walking with a limp on the night of October 31st.

No he didn't know that Quirrell was the actual thief. Harry also denied anything related to Voldemort, saying that Voldemort had introduced himself and told him that he would kill both the Potters after which Harry started fighting the DADA professor.

Harry had given the headmaster his memory of the fight, the memory explicitly began from the point where Harry had shot the first spell and ended when he extinguished the lumos, it was a good thing that due to lack of light in the memory, Duumbledore couldn’t see that Harry was actually floating in the air.

Then the memory ended when Harry blasted Quirrell’s head with a bombarda curse. After this Dumbledore requested Harry let him keep a copy of the memory. Harry ofcourse refused and pulled the memory back in his head.

The meeting only went down spiral when Harry was asked another question as to why his wand had shocked Dumbledore with electricity when he had tried to hold it, the answer had been simple. Harry’s wand was attached to him with blood and runes, therefore any person who didn’t have Harry’s magic would never be able to hold the wand.

The last thing on Dumbledore’s agenda, Harry still laughed about it. The Headmaster of Hogwarts in another show of blatant favouritism had spewed out a baseless excuse and had tried to make him give the Potter family’s invisibility cloak to Alandale.

‘The nerve of that man…’ Harry still couldn’t believe how Dumbledore could even ask him to do that. The answer was simple, Harry had straight away denied all of the manipulative bastard’s attempts to take away the cloak from its current owner, going as far as to threaten the boy with a detention for refusing Headmaster’s words.

Harry straightaway told the headmaster that this cloak and the matter was a ‘Potter-Peverell’ House thing and that if Dumbledore wanted to intercede then he needed to show Harry proof that he had such rights in the familial sayings.

And considering the fact that they both knew, there wasn’t any such thing, Harry asked the Supreme Mugwump to keep his nose out of the Potter-Peverell Family Matters and to never ever bring the topic of this cloak.

He had also told the Headmaster that if the cloak ever vanishes while he is in Hogwarts then Harry will come to Dumbledore for said claok’s retrieval.

After this, things in the office weren’t simple talks but a battle of wills as both the elemental and the Chief Warlock released their magics which started saturating the air around them.

In the end, seeing as there was nothing going to calm either one of them, former Headmaster of Hogwarts, Armando Dippet dispersed the situation and Harry had immediately taken leave.

Harry again rubbed his forehead before releasing another deep breath and closing his eyes as he sat in the lotus position in his four-poster bed. Time to clear his mind and sort out his day’s memories…’What a drag…’

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Ending Note- There you have it fellas, Chapter Twenty-three of Silence of the Winters. Liked it? Loved it? Hated it? Please, do tell.

Chapter 23 ended up becoming a 10k word chapter, so I decided to edit the second hald of the chapter to make it better and upload it as Part 2.

Upload date: July 13th, 2023.

I am waiting for all your comments. Constructive criticism is appreciated.

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Thank you for reading and comments.

With regards,

Dev Black