Chapter 124: Albus vs Albus
It turned out that Rick had passed out from alcohol in the police car they stole during the chase and no one in the group had noticed when they apparate away. He was caught by the bobbies then put in a cell at the nearest precinct. He had woken quite drunk during the night and apparated away, landing on the roof of Black Oak Manor. The rest is history.
Lily’s discontentment had been devastating but passed quickly. Most notably because Rick still had some work to do. Scrimgeour wasn’t sure of the loyalty of all of his aurors and Albus had put forward the possibility to contact Amelia and ask for help by lending Aurors from their world. Scrimegeour was open to the possibility but for that to happen another magical ritual circle was needed. Rose was too busy finishing the one to remove the Horcrux from Harry to do it and so the task landed on Rick’s shoulders.
While everyone else was training mostly with the love spell, Albus had asked a favor to Kingsley. Warn Alt-Minerva of his existence and requested permission to set foot inside Hogwarts. Albus needed to speak with his portrait.
Seeing him alive had been quite an emotional moment for the head of the House of Gryffindor and had Albus not known her for years he would never have noticed the small hints she unknowingly gave off with her body language.
She had let him to the Headmaster office, now hers and Albus stood in front of the portrait of his Alter-ego.
“I will leave the two of you alone,” she said but Albus stopped her.
“Actually, I would like for you to stay, if you don’t mind. I’d like your wisdom and the opinion of someone who knows us well.”
Minerva looked at Albus then at Alt-Albus.
“I have no problem with it.” The painting seemed quite curious. “I admit I wasn’t expecting Kingsley and Alastor to use the summoning ritual. Does that mean Harry is…”
“Alive and well and soon free of the horcrux in his scar.” Albus interrupted. “I’m sure you were not expecting me to be the one summoned, hm? Perhaps a victorious version of Harry?”
“Yes. I’m curious about the differences between us that allowed you to defeat Voldemort.”
Albus conjured a comfy chair in front of the painting and invited Minerva to sit down too. The woman knew she was just here to listen and so just observed.
Albus chuckled. “I did not defeat him. The merit belongs to someone else. I and a few others were pulled alongside him when he was summoned. I was merely… an unforeseen traveling companion.”
“Was there not a prophecy in your world?”
“There was. Almost word for word identical to the one here. The only difference is the pronoun used. Yours was quite clearly a ‘He’ indicating a male. Mine used ‘they’.”
“Hmm, even more blurry. Multiple chosen ones or undecided gender.”
“Yes. It mattered very little in the end. The chosen one was chosen by Voldemort after all. Yet His choice in my world and His choice in yours, leave me with lots of questions. Such as: was that choice a coincidence or pre-determined?”
“Are Harry and your chosen one that different?”
“They couldn’t be more different. In fact I noticed only three things in common they had. First they are both descendants of Godric Gryffindor.”
Both Alt-Minerva and Alt-Albus eyes widened at the revelation.
“James was a descendant of Gryffindor?”
Albus didn’t answer him directly. “The second thing they had in common, they have the same mother.”
“Lily?” Alt-Minerva gasped.
“Yes. She’s in fact a descendant of the main line which turned into a squib. I’m sure you understand what… plagues my mind.”
“Why make a prophecy where Voldemort will choose his equal when the confrontation will be between the descendants of Godric and Salazar? It could also be a coincidence.”
“Both are descendants of Godric, both their mother is Lily. Coincidences are piling. Even more with the third point in common. Both are Potter by blood.”
“But… I understood James wasn’t the child’s father?” Alt-Minerva was confused.
“He is not.” Albus turned back to his Alter. “Do you remember Dorea Black?”
“How could I forget? She went toe to toe with Gellert. The only witch I have ever been afraid of. She wasn’t that powerful but her eyes…. Her story is really a tragic one. She married Charlus Potter and they had a son but he… Oh. he’s alive in your world. He’s your chosen’s father.” Alt-Albus understood.
“Yes and the one who defeated Voldemort.”
Alt-Albus’s mind raced in confusion. “But… How? The prophecy was about him?”
“No. The prophecy was about his daughter: Rose. He acted as Rose’s hand and wielded the power He knows not.”
“Hmm… Rose wasn’t turned into an horcrux.”
“She wasn’t, no. When I told Lily and Rick the prophecy, they refused the options I gave them. Running away or hiding. They chose to fight. Rose was hidden but they played the bait. It worked and we had sixteen years of relative peace. The same prophecy yet different ways to interpret it and different ways to go about it. Rose only met Voldemort twice. The night of his resurrection in her fourth year, much like Harry did and the day of Voldemort’s downfall. Not once did she fight him. Her father did instead.”
Minerva cut in the conversation, her curiosity taking over. “What is the power You-know-who doesn’t know?”
““Love.”” both Albus answered.
“Rick created a spell. One similar to the patronus. Not based on happiness but on love. Verus Amor.”
A bright red dove was produced from his wand and flew around the office before landing on Minerva’s lap.
“Oh, there is so much love in this.” Minerva smiled in joy as she scratched the dove for a moment before it disappeared.
“And it’s only a friendly love. Rick put every ounce of his paternal love into it and Voldemort broke. The spell is a bit different from the patronus however, it only works on the person you have in mind when you use it.”
The implications were understood immediately by Alt-Albus. “He used Rose’s blood as a connection to reach Voldemort. Brilliant. Both the tactic and the spell.”
“Yes, very.” Albus nodded with a bit of pride. “We will exploit the same weakness in a few days. The difference this time is that Rick will not be alone when using the spell, he trained everyone close to Harry to use it. Voldemort has no chance.”
An amused chuckle escaped Alt-Albus’ lips. “You found all the other horcruxes then?”
“Yes, destroyed but we preserved the founders’ belongings.”
“This is good. May I know where the cup was and what was the last?”
“The cup was in Bellatrix’s vault.”
“How did you get it? I doubt the goblin would have let you storm Gringotts or give it to you.”
“With our own Bellatrix. In our world she joined our side and spied for us. She was summoned too and she just went to visit her vault.”
“Bellatrix Lestrange not serving Voldemort? I find that hard to believe.” Alt-Minerva commented with no small amount of shock.
“How did you manage such a feat?”
“I didn’t. In fact I didn’t know about her being a spy, nor her sister Narcissa, until the end of the first war. I… will come back to that in a moment. The last Horcrux was the lost Diadem of Rowena Ravenclaw. He befriended the Gray Lady who’s real name is Helena Ravenclaw, Rowena’s daughter. He got the location of the Diadem while a student and hid it in Hogwarts when he came for the position of DADA professor. The locket you and young Harry got that night was a fake created by Regulus Black. He knew what it was and summoned Kreacher to find a way to destroy it. It had been at Grimmauld for all these years. Rick and Bella stopped Mundungus stealing it by luck.”
Alt-Minerva gave a disapproving look to Alt-Albus who sighed in surrender. She may not know what a horcrux was but she understood it was important. A criminal like Mundungus having it in hand could have proven disastrous. Many times she had told Albus that the man being a member of the order would do more harm than good.
“Is he still alive?”
“Yes, Bellatrix… My Bellatrix is not as unhinged as yours. In nearly twenty years she never torture or murder anyone. She’s truly reformed. In fact she’s a member of the order and more than that, the most appreciated DADA Teacher since Voldemort put the jinx on it. She did punish Mundungus however. He was stealing from her House precious heirlooms.”
“What did she do?” Alt-Minerva feared for the worst.
“Memory charmed him to the point he doesn’t remember who he is.”
“Oh... That’s… quite tame considering.” She was honestly expecting far, far worse.
“It is. In any case, you will soon receive the Ravenclaw diadem, the hufflepuff cup and the locket of Slytherin.”
“Fillius is going to lose it. The lost diadem of Ravenclaw.” she chuckled.
“I have a question regarding Severus.” Albus turned to the painting and Alt-Minerva scowled. “Harry believes he murdered you and is working for Voldemort. I believe you had him give you mercy to make sure Voldemort believes him loyal to him. What is your plan for him and can he be saved?”
“You are correct. I had a month to live at best.” Alt-Minerva gasped in shock. “The withering curse was about to claim me so I asked Severus to take my life at the most opportune moment for the reason you named. If you can save him, I’ll do my best to clear his name. It’s the least I can do for him.”
“Lily is visiting him.”
“She’s alive?!”
“Yes. So is James. Surprisingly many people who are dead in your world are in fact alive in mine. Which brings me to the main reason for my visit. What you did to Harry and how you came to do it.” Alt-Albus suddenly displayed a mixture of remorse and vindication. “I’m not here to judge. I have an idea as to why you did what you did but I’d like confirmation. How come we took a different path from what we believed in? You walked closer to Gellert’s path and I… I walked a more pragmatic path relaxing some stances.”
“Albus, what is this about?” Alt-Minerva looked at the painting. “What did you do to Potter?”
Alt-Albus sighed in resignation. “When Harry survived the killing curse thanks to Lily’s protection, making the spell bounce back to Voldemort, a piece of his soul latched itself onto Harry making him what is called a horcrux. As long as a piece of one’s soul exists in the mortal plane one never truly dies.”
Alt-Minerva gasped in shock then she recovered quickly and exploded. “You raised him to die?!”
“That’s the conclusion I came to. As Harry knows nothing about being the heir of House Potter, about… much of anything regarding himself, really.”
“Albus Wulfric Percival Brian Dumbledore! How could you!?”
“I didn’t want to. I searched for years for a way to destroy the Horcrux without taking his life but I found nothing. You don’t know how glad I am to hear you can remove it from him. But yes, since he was supposed to die, I saw little purpose in him learning about his duties as a future Lord Potter. I’d rather he enjoyed his childhood and time at Hogwarts. I had hoped that Petunia would overcome her jealousy and bitterness towards Lily but I’ve been wrong. Yet he was the safest there thanks to Lily's protection which worked based on her blood. Petunia’s blood. Had there been another way, something better, I would have gone with it but there wasn’t.”
“He learned the truth about his parents and that he was a wizard at eleven. You could have sent some people you trust to prepare him to deal with the fame. As a result he completely isolated himself. Even if he died in the end he would have had a better life if only just slightly. But I’m not here to point out flaws. Merlin knows I have plenty and made plenty of mistakes and that’s not why I am here. What I want to know is why was it acceptable for you that Harry had to sacrifice himself?”
“You know as well as I do. For the greater good.”
“Hm… No. I can’t call it the greater good. Gellert was wrong, he called the greater good the fact of sacrificing or enslaving those he considered lesser beings for those he considered superior regardless of the numbers. You consider the greater good the need to sacrifice the few for the many. As if a bigger number was worth more than a smaller number. Would sacrificing an innocent person to save a thousand criminals be called the greater good? I do not believe so.”
“What is your interpretation of the greater good then?”
“Had you asked me six months ago, I wouldn’t have been able to give you an answer or perhaps I would have given yours but with doubts… Sacrificing someone without consent or after raising them for it is morally no better than Gellert’s way in my eyes. Now… I believe that the greater good is fully taking the burden onto your shoulders, no matter the consequences to yourself. Are we really better if we sacrifice someone unwilling or unknowing? Is the sacrifice worth it if we lose our morals and integrity as a result? Just for numbers? I do not believe so. If we believe that we do, then perhaps we deserve the wrong happening to us and disappear.”
“Hmm… How can we preach peace and harmony when we use others as chess pieces? That’s… a dilemma that I never saw before. Looking back and considering the bit I know about how you dealt with Voldemort in your world, I think… I was just desperate.” Alt-Albus admitted and confessed his realization. “How did you… not turn like me?”
“I… was called out. Not just verbally like I’m sure your Alastor did, like mine, but I was confronted with a fait accompli. I met someone who… defied me and that had the power, the intellect and the charisma to do so. In fact,” Albus chuckled. “He ignored me completely. I didn’t like his methods, sometimes I still don’t but he showed me that what we believe in was too extreme. Giving second chance after second chance freely… It’s foolish. Especially when the price to pay is innocent lives. I was confronted with the question… Is bringing back one criminal to the light worth the dozens or perhaps hundreds of lives they had destroyed to arrive at that point? When is the price too high for that to happen?
I insisted on non-lethal spells during the first war and as a result many people, good people, died. People that may have lived without such restrictions. During the second war, I did not. I insisted that I didn’t like it and I would not tolerate straight out cold blooded murder but I would understand killing in self-defence.”
“I understand how you deviated from our original path. You are more tolerant and pragmatic. While I pushed to the extremes. Hmm… you said someone defied you? Tell me what happened.”
“Rick happened. He… has the same madness as his mother. During one raid… A Death Eater nearly killed Lily. He butchered them all. He did not kill any of them but many lost limbs or ended crippled.”
Alt-Minerva’s face paled.
“I imagine you didn’t like it one bit and neither did some members of the orders.”
“Quite. Especially when, much like his mother, he felt no remorse for it. I’ll remember his words to my dying days. “I’m sorry, I don’t care much about the opinions of cowards that stay behind. As far as I’m concerned, my wife was in mortal danger and I eliminated the threats.”
“Bold words.”
“Indeed. He didn’t quit the order then but he never showed up at meetings for a year. He was just helping on the field the way he saw fit. As the war went on more and more members of the orders became disillusioned with my way of doing things, Rick created another secret group. One not more lethal but proactive instead of reactive. They converted an old Black castle into a prison even more secure than Azkaban, then used the taboo to capture death eaters and put them away.”
“That way they wouldn’t have been released by bribery or broken out of Azkaban,” Alt-Minerva explained to herself.
“Yes. In the end, the night Lily defeated Voldemort, I realized how far he had gone his own way. He had recruited Bellatrix and Narcissa into his group years earlier. Narcissa, as Lucius’ wife, had spied on him and shared useful information. Bellatrix was to discover the identity of all the members of the inner circle and record all their crimes. During her trial, many death eaters were sent to Azkaban from her testimony. Only a handful, the richer and more connected, escaped jail time. I wasn’t happy about it one bit but his methods had been more effective than mine.”
“He did to us what we did to everyone. Keeping our cards close to the chest. ‘Wasn’t happy about it’? I’m sure you were furious.” Alt-Albus chuckled.
“I was, and he pointed out that I didn’t have the monopoly on leading, secrets and doing things. That… took me down a peg or two. He never called me out for my hubris but he didn’t have too. Instead he offered to work together with no secrets with each other and I accepted. When Bellatrix came with the cup in 81 he gave it to me and reminded me to share what he knew about it as it concerned Voldemort and so Rose. I almost did not. Force of habit I’m sorry to say.” Albus sighed, not particularly happy at having been tempted.
“What made you act differently?”
“The kind of man he was. A man of intense love and compassion despite his madness. You see… I observed him closely during his first eighteen months at Hogwarts. He… reminded me too much of Tom. They were raised in the same orphanage, same floor, even the same room. And while he outwardly had a very different mindset than Tom… I was wary. Too many coincidences. Magically powerful for his age. Smart beyond belief.
Everything changed in his second year. During the winter break of 72, something happened. He and Amelia Bones found two secret locations. The Chambers of Secrets and Salazar Slytherin’ scriptorium.”
“How did that happen?”
Minerva added her own question with a frown on her face. “And what scriptorium?”
“Rick is a gryffindor at heart through and through but with the curiosity of a ravenclaw. He loved exploring the castle, finding secrets all around. I’m pretty sure he knows more about the castle than I do,” Albus chuckled. “He’s also a very, very sensitive magic sensor, to the point he can feel and understand the intent in the magic he felt. He used his gift to map the secrets of Hogwarts and during that winter break, he mapped the bathroom with the entrance of the chamber. By passing his hand on the snake carving on the sink, which was an oddity for him, he felt the magic hiss.
“Hissing? His gift must be really powerful.”
“Too powerful. In any case we dealt with the basilisk here and there. But that’s not the important part of the tale. The important part is the scriptorium. After traversing a small maze and opening coded doors, we arrived in a long room which closed behind us. At the other side of the room was a door with faces in agony carved on it. We quickly understood from a note left by someone who died in the room that to open the door a specific scream must be produced. One made by being hit by the cruciatus.”
“Merlin! He used it?!”
“On himself.” Albus revealed, shocking his Alter and Alt-Minerva. “We were five. Me, of course, Filius, you, Amelia Bones and him. While we adults were trying to think of a solution he used the cruciatus on himself. His reasons? We didn’t know what was behind that door and we couldn’t have a professor not ready to fight. That left Amelia and him. He couldn’t bear to hurt his friend so he chose himself. He didn’t even think twice, didn’t even hesitate. You gave him quite the scolding but there was so much pride in your eyes for the courage and recklessness your cub displayed that he didn’t take it seriously.” Once again Albus chuckled.
“That’s why I didn’t keep anything to myself. I bet on a man who at the core was full of compassion and love and was ready to sacrifice himself and not others for the greater good. Someone ready to accept the consequences. With time it became easier and easier to trust. Not just him but also others. Bellatrix, who knew I would one day call her a friend? I wasn’t playing chess anymore.”
“So he’s the origin of our paths being different.”
“I think so and that brought me one question. How come the existence of one person can change things so much? I’m not just talking about us, I’m talking about the world in general. So many people in my world are alive, others dead, while here it’s the other way around. He’s not… as involved in the Magical World affair as we were. He never had the political capital we had, yet in a decade he changed the world more than we ever did in five. And if he was able to change things in our world, will his involvement in yours change things for the better too? How come one person can influence the world that much and so easily without even doing it on purpose? Even Gellert fall shorts.”
“Sometimes it’s not about the right person at the right place, but the wrong person at the wrong place.” Alt-Minerva commented.
Both Albus hummed, thinking about her words before giving the same answer. ““Perhaps.””
“Would knowing change your life for the worse or the better?”
“Neither or at least I don’t think it will.”
“Then pay it no mind and don’t waste your time when you can use it for something more pleasant.”
Albus smiled at her. “That is good advice.”
“Indeed. I should have listened to you more, Minerva.”
“You should have, yes.” she said with a vindicated huff and a proud poise.
“Thank you for your time. It was… instructive.” Albus stood up, gave a polite bow and left the office, humming a happy song.