(Enchanting Melodies) Chapter 141: The Defense Conundrum

Chapter 141: The Defense Conundrum

17 August 1993, Hog’s Head, Hogsmeade

Albus Dumbledore had a problem.

Well, he had hundreds of problems that started piling up ever since that damnable Diary found its way into Hogwarts. How was it possible that Lord Voldemort did the most damage to his ambition now than when he actually had a body? The irony there was unmistakable.

The so-called Dark Lord had tried for decades to destroy everything that Albus worked for. And while he succeeded in terrorizing the magical world, he never really hurt Albus in a way that threatened his political position.

The sad thing was that Tom Riddle could have easily become a threat. Albus had been waiting for it after the boy graduated. A descendant of Salazar Slytherin, a Gaunt who didn’t seem to share his blood’s instability – which wasn’t really the case if you considered how unstable Voldemort really was by the end of the war – was a very attractive figurehead to spearhead a movement. The boy was charismatic, inspiring, and manipulative. He could have easily gotten his hand on some wealth and become a noticeable threat by joining the Wizengamot as a head of a department in the ministry, or even just influence a few members. It would have been like a more effective Lucius Malfoy that was far more magically powerful.

Albus had prepared for it for years, stabilizing his position as the leader of the Progressive faction, undermined the boy for years until no one but his housemates wanted anything to do with him. After all, he was just weakening a future opponent in the political scene. Which was why he was shocked when the boy just went to work for Borgin and Burkes.

After a brief employment time, he just disappeared for decades, and all that returned was the inhuman monstrous being that was Lord Voldemort.

So, wasn’t it surprising that it was Tom Riddle’s diary that was causing him to barely sleep in years? Well, it wasn’t really, it was just the start. It was easy to just blame everything on Tom, if only to have something to rant at, instead of the countless chaotic mess of events that seemed to come out of nowhere.

Seriously, the entirety of the magical world was fine for decades. Everything was going according to plan, only for it to fall apart in the span of a few months.

The Chamber of Secrets was opened, and people started to question his capability as a headmaster. Thankfully, the Potter boy agreed to shut his mouth, and everything went away, with him ‘secretly’ the hero since Fudge could barely keep a secret. People were giving him appreciative looks for defending their students, and even the Longbottom boy was hailed as a hero once more – after a campaign of slander and fake allegations that he was a new Dark Lord – even if there was some pity mixed in for his mental instability for what happened in the chamber.

It was regrettable, but it was the way to go. Hogwarts couldn’t close, it just couldn’t, and that was exactly going to happen should the general population realize that there was a weapon of mass destruction in the castle and that their children were in mortal danger.

His relationship with Augusta Longbottom became slightly strained since he didn’t defend her grandson, but it was a small price to pay considering the alternative. The only loose end was the Potter boy. That damnable spawn of James and Lily had proposed the plan to Albus as a small reminder that he didn’t have to keep his mouth shut. It was very well done, and it worked splendidly.

Alas, Albus still didn’t know how involved the boy was in what happened in Salazar Slytherin’s secret chamber. And adding that with the fact that the boy had something over him, made Albus want to get as much control over the brat as possible. He was planning on getting the boy removed the Black’s guardianship and into the custody of Augusta Longbottom, where he could add in small artifact that could slowly but surely make him forget about the events.

He could have also gained access to the brat’s financial information. His Goblin informants at Gringotts told him that the boy came into a large amount of gold in the past few months, and that it was still growing.

Albus didn’t really care about the gold, just keep some tabs on what the boy was doing. It’s not like he really needed the gold. He was the only competent Alchemist in the country, something that he had ensured over the course of decades. There was always demand for alchemical elixirs and he could set any price he wanted. He had enough gold for several lifetimes and could even get more anytime he wanted.

As for the boy, he wanted to see if he was selling any of the Basilisk’s parts. While legally it was Neville’s property, the school was also a contender, that’s not mentioning that the unlicensed sale on a XXXXX beast was technically illegal without permission from the ministry. He had checked that there weren’t any permits for selling a Basilisk corpse, and there were also no new Basilisk parts on the Black market. But then, how could a child, no matter how intelligent, get so much gold that Goblins went out of their ways to report it to him. It’s not like he was asking for tabs specifically on the Potter boy’s vault. He didn’t think it was worth the risk or gold to bribe a goblin to monitor the vault of a child with no income.

Everything was starting to stabilize once more until Azkaban was destroyed. And wasn’t that a crisis. Even Voldemort, a mad agent of chaos would not have risked destroying that fortress. It was literally the only reason the Dementors were under ministry control. The beasts were already started to act restless and attack random strangers. Albus had calmed them considerably, but they were starving beasts and often followed their impulse to feast.

Already twenty muggles were kissed, and that were just the ones they knew about. Fudge kept coming up with random theories, like sending them to Hogwarts. What madness possessed him to actually propose something like this in a Wizengamot meeting, Albus didn’t know, and he could only thank the Light that the other members realized how idiotic this decision was and shot it down. There were some proposals about sending them to Nurmengard momentarily while Albus rebuilds the new prison, as he had promised Fudge. The defeater of Grindelwald had argued heavily against that considering the fascination his old friend had over the monsters. A few others were hesitant since Dementors resided mostly in Britain and were a powerful piece on the board when it came to international politics. They gave Britain leverage, and a lot of people didn’t want to lose that.

Thankfully, the light answered his plea and helped him a ward to trap the dementors in what used to be Azkaban. They were already dark creatures in origin, and it was evident that the Light was especially effective against them. It was a temporary measure at best, but it would be enough until Albus’ prison was built. He already had a few secrets he wanted to add to his design.

Albus sighed as he took a sip of his tea. He was sitting in the Hog’s Head, his brother’s pub, hoping to solve a particular problem. It was a recurring one, really. He had to deal with it every year.

Aberforth slowly walked from behind the bar and spoke up with his gruffy tone, “Why’re you here, Albus?”

“Why, I’m drinking tea, of course.”

“The tea is horrible. You’re the only one who’s ever had it and came for seconds. Not that I’m surprised; you were always weird.”

Albus huffed, “It’s nothing special. I just have another candidate to interview. I decided to interview them myself this time since the last one revealed himself to be fraud.”

“That defense position, huh. Still as troubling as ever.”

“Would you ever consider taking the job?” he asked with a hopeful tone, yet still knowing the answer to his question.

As expected, his brother snorted in derision, “Not on your life. I’m happy here and if you think for one second that I would give up my life just to work for you, dear brother, then you’ve probably overdosed on your Sherbet Lemons and gone insane.”

“A man can dream. You’re more than qualified for the job.”

“With you, Albus, everything comes with strings attached. Like you noticed, I’ve always tried to stay away from you. And you’re proving me right, even now. I expected to see you sooner because the fact that what happened to Ariana is public. I guess I was a sucker for thinking that you might even had a shard of affection towards left in that hole you call a heart. I think I’m glad, in a way, to see the world start to realize that you’re not as perfect as you like to portray yourself to be. I just wish that it didn’t come at the cost of our sister’s memory. Now, if you don’t want anything else, I have a bar to run.”

He turned and left, leaving Albus alone with his admittedly horrible testing tea. Was he right? The thought of talking to Aberforth after people started to sniff around what happened to their sister never occurred to him. The whole thing was still under speculation and there was no proof of the Potter brat’s accusation being true. But then again, when had the truth mattered to the wizarding world?

The defeater of Grindelwald had dedicated his entire life to his dream of creating a magical utopia. It was something that he shared with Gellert, until they realized the way they wanted to achieve it differed. It was a point of conflict, but their ambitions were very similar.

A loud noise brought him back to reality and Albus saw that the man he came to meet. It was literally his last choice as a candidate for the post. He had gotten a couple of other applicants, one of whom just wanted to interview him about his sister, and the other seemed suitable, if it wasn’t for the fact that he was an extremely dark wizard that was involved in over a dozen counts of murder in Portugal and human experimentation, but gold exchanged hands and the charges were dropped.

He had waited until the last possible moment before accepting the last applicant. It was literally a couple of weeks before the start of the term, and if he had waited any longer, the ministry would pick a candidate for him, and that meant more ministry involvement in Hogwarts matter, and Albus wanted to avoid the slippery slope that would follow.

The aged headmaster watched the well-dressed man in front of him.

He was wearing and impeccably tailored black muggle suit andexuded an air of confidence that was quite unlike most people who spoke to him. His presence was striking, and for a moment, Albus couldn't help but wonder if he was wrong when he wary of that particular wizard.

That was until he saw his face, or more specifically, his eyes. The man's eyes held this darkness that he always saw in very few individuals. It was the eyes of a man who had come to terms with his own savage nature, a savage nature that had nearly consumed him once. It was the same darkness that Albus definitely did not want near his students.

The final candidate’s face morphed into a fake smile, “Hello, Albus. It’s been a while, hasn’t it?”

“Why, hello Remus. I’d say it’s been almost a decade now. It’s good to see you again.”

That was a lie and both of them knew it. They had left things on bad terms and Albus did his best to observe the man who was now basically the stranger. The man’s face, though aged and weathered, still held an undeniable resemblance to the young Remus Lupin he once knew. However, his graying hair, now neatly combed, was a far cry from the messy, tattered look Albus remembered during the days of the Marauders.

The man was different in both appearance and nature, and it was very understandable. People do not come out the same after the tragedy young Remus suffered.

After the rest of the Marauders perished, he was left alone, a wolf without his pack, and overwhelmed in his grief, he ran away and let the beast inside him free. Albus didn’t really have time to follow him, but he kept tabs on the boy as he spiraled out of control. It was a tragic tale, until one day, something happened.

He left the pack he had been a part of and joined some muggle corporation. He wormed his way to the top and was now living a comfortable and wealthy life in the muggle world. Albus didn’t know if he was drinking Wolfsbane, nor how he could afford it if he did. The truth was that muggle currency meant very little for wizards apart from ways to integrate muggleborns to magical society. It was just paper, and the goblins did not make any exchanges for gold apart from the muggleborn Hogwarts exchange program. 

He couldn't even buy gold in the muggle world and sell it. The goblins didn't really accept normal gold, treasuring enchantments and artefacts instead. It was what gave authenticity to magical currency. A lot of muggleborns thought that they were clever buying some gold using muggle money and tried to sell it off to the goblins. They were caught every time and didn't get an extra knut.

Gold, silver and bronze were just metals that were perfected to hold enchantments that were fine-tuned over the course of thousands of years. Mining gold or buying it and selling it to the goblins wouldn't work. This characteristic of the Goblins was why they were so happy to fund curse breaker investigations since they can find rare enchanted items, which they treasure more.

Long story short, Remus shouldn’t have the Galleons to hire a potion master to brew the potion for him.

So, what did the man do during the full moon.

As curious as he was, he was going to force Remus to drink Wolfsbane. It was technically required by the ministry, after all. But aside from his lycanthropy, Albus had a feeling that hiring Remus was going to be troublesome.

“It’s good to see you too. But let’s make this brief. We both know that you’re going to hire me, and since you waited so much, I know that you didn’t want to hire me in the first place. I don’t know if you became prejudiced against people like me or not, and I don’t particularly care. So, since you’re kinda pressed for time, let’s talk about my future salary.”

Yes, this was going to be troublesome indeed.