Forever

Chapter 04: In the Headmaster's Study

Harry and Ginny parted from Ron and Hermione and made the way to Dumbledore's office in silence. Ginny was lost in thought and Harry was still reeling from the shock of seeing both Tom Riddle and Narcissa Malfoy show up at Hogwarts within the space of half an hour.

The gargoyle at the entrance to the headmasters study seemed to be laughing at him and the mess he was now in. Harry kicked it as Ginny gave it the password and then wished he hadn't when his foot started to throb painfully.

As they went up the spiral staircase they heard snatches of a conversation.

"... don't mind, do you?"

"I was not aware that you smoked," Dumbledore's voice came floating down to them. There was a trace of disapproval in his voice.

"Like a fault in the floo network," came the cheerful reply. "I can drink that gamekeeper of yours under the table too. But don't worry. Your students will never know."

"Oh no! It's her," whispered Ginny.

Harry barely heard her. He had recognized the first voice the moment it spoke for the second time. He drew his wand, preparing to - he wasn't really sure what he was preparing to do only that he must do something. He must stop whatever it was that the Death Eaters were planning to do. It had to be a spell of some sort. He saw that the hand that held his wand was trembling, and why not? The Dark Lord and his Death Eaters had achieved the impossible. They had enchanted Dumbledore and now they were coming for him. He was not going to let that happen. He would fight them to his dying breath. He would-

Later he would swear the he saw the disarming spell that Dumbledore cast at him before he felt it hit him squarely in the chest knocking him to the floor. But at that moment, while he was lying at the foot of Fawke's perch, he wasn't really sure of anything. He just lay there staring at Dumbledore (who had a look of apologetic compassion on his face) and Ginny (who was looking at him as if he had lost his mind) with a sort of bemused detachment.

"You know, this is awful fun," Narcissa Malfoy's voice cut into the silent tableau. "But if all we're going to do is play statues all night then I think I'll take myself off."

She was leaning against Dumbledore's desk and smoking what appeared to be a very long black cigarette which was giving out blue smoke. She had removed her cloak and was wearing ice-blue robes. As she nonchalantly breathed out a lungful of blue smoke a few inches from Ginny's face Harry felt his anger swell up and reach a pitch. He pulled himself to his feet and turned on Dumbledore.

"You hexed me!" he said clenching his teeth. "To protect her." Saying out loud reconfirmed that Dumbledore had taken her side over his and this made him even angrier.

"Why is she here?" His voice was rising now in his rage. "Why is he here?"

"Now Harry," said Dumbledore in a placating manner. "Now just stay calm and-"

"STAY CALM? HOW DO YOU EXPECT ME TO STAY CALM? ALL YOU CAN SAY TO ME IS STAY CALM! HE- HER - YOU-"

"Articulate, isn't he?" drawled Mrs Malfoy, raising one perfectly sculpted eyebrow.

"Narcissa." said Dumbledore warningly. "Please don't make this any worse than it has to be."

"WHAT'S GOING ON? ARE YOU TRYING TO GET ME KILLED? HOW MANY OTHER DEATHEATERS DO YOU HAVE HIDDEN AWAY?"

"Harry, Mrs. Malfoy is here to -" Dumbledore looked at her as if asking her for help in his choice of words, she however was busy examining her fingernails," - assist us." he finished. "All of your questions will be answered if you just -"

"Just what? Jump out the window? That would make them all really happy, wouldn't it?"

Narcissa sighed, "Perhaps it would be better if I spoke to them alone."

Dumbledore raised his eyebrows at her. "I thought you did not wish to speak to them alone."

"I don't." She said firmly. "But if all that wonder-boy here -" she waved a hand at Harry, "- is going to do is yell at you then I think you should leave me to it."

"What makes you think I'm going to listen to anything you have to say?" Harry said furiously. "You're a filthy Death Eater."

She pulled up her sleeve and bared her left arm to him and Ginny. "See, no mark. I'm not a Death Eater. Never have been."

Ginny snorted. "So what? Do you expect us to believe that you're suddenly on our side?"

Narcissa rolled her eyes. "Good Lord, are you really as young as that? I thought that you would be old enough to realize that the world isn't simply black and white. I'm not on your side, Virginia dear. The day you see me join that Order of yours is that day I take up permanent residence in St Mango's alongside the Longbottoms."

"Don't you mock Neville's parents," Harry said through his teeth. "You aren't fit to wipe their boots!"

She looked at him scornfully and then turned her back to him to face Dumbledore. "That suggestion of the body bind is beginning to sound a whole lot better now isn't it? At least let me put him under a gagging spell again, like I did in the great hall."

Dumbledore shook his head at her. "You hexed him in the great hall?"

"That's right." Harry said to Dumbledore. "What makes you think she won't try and put the Imperius curse on us if you leave her alone with us?"

Narcissa scowled. "That was only because you were about to start screaming your head off about how I would turn everyone into black beetles while they slept. I don't enjoy being made a spectacle of. Besides, I hear that you can resist the Imperius, so what would be the point of trying it?"

"And every thing you do must have a point, must it not?" said Dumbledore. "Did I or did I not tell you that you were not to hex the students?"

Her expression turned sulky and she crossed her arms across her chest in a somewhat petulant manner. She reminded Harry of Draco. Apparently he hadn't inherited all his facial expressions from his father. "I distinctly remember a teacher turning Draco into a ferret two years ago," she said. "I thought they were more guidelines than rules."

"That was different and you are well aware of that," said Dumbledore testily. "How do you expect him to believe a word you say if the first thing you do is hex him?"

"How do you expect him to believe anything I say when he doesn't even trust you?"

Dumbledore looked at Harry sadly over Narcissa's shoulder. "That is true," he said. "I have failed the boy most grievously in the past, which makes him mistrustful. However I cannot allow you to speak to him alone. I am sure that both of them would behave most unfavourably if I were to leave."

Narcissa shrugged. "Suit yourself," she said. "You know them better than I do. Lets face it; this is the first time we've ever been within a three foot radius of each other."

"That's not true," said Ginny. "We saw you at the world cup two years ago. You were sitting right behind us."

Narcissa frowned at her. "I could have been sitting next to Merlin himself that day and I wouldn't have noticed. I was completely and utterly hung over. I probably went around looking like I had a pile of dung shoved under my nose. At least that's how Lucius describes the expression I usually wear on one of those days." She turned to Dumbledore. "You know, maybe I should leave you alone with them. That would make them happy and you can have a cosy little chat."

Dumbledore gave her a very long calculating look. "What are you trying to pull Narcissa?"

"Why is it that whenever I try to do someone a favour they always think I have ulterior motives?" she said with a very ingratiating smile.

"Because, my dear, you always do," said Dumbledore.

"You've got a point," she said. "Alright then, I think my being here is a waste of time; and I left my son in the middle of a temper tantrum. I want to go and calm him down before he starts to throw things."

Dumbledore sighed and then looked up at the ceiling for a few seconds. "We shall do this together. You shall explain your part in this and I shall explain mine. But first - for their benefit, you must swear that you will not try to bewitch them or try anything underhand."

"I swear it on my mother's grave." she said solemnly.

"Your mother is not dead, Narcissa," Dumbledore said sternly.

"I know, but the shock of finding out that I've lowered myself to work for you will kill her."

"Narcissa!"

"Fine!" she said irritably, "I swear it on my son's life, my husband's life and everything else in the world that is precious to me. Satisfied?"

"That will be adequate," Dumbledore said. He waved a hand at the chairs around his desk. "Why don't we all sit down? This may take some time."

Harry stayed where he was. Sitting down with the socialite wives of Death Eaters was not something he ever planned to do willingly.

Narcissa sat down with an annoyed thump and lit another cigarette. "Well sit down," she said impatiently. "I don't exactly have all night."

Harry looked at her mutinously. She shrugged. "Stand then, I don't care either way. So how do you want to do this?" The last part was said to Dumbledore. "Either we make this a question and answer thing or we talk and they listen."

Ginny sat down. "Why are you here?"

Narcissa looked at her and sighed. "Question hour, then. I'm here to teach Defence. The board of Governors were going on about how they wished a Governor was on the staff and I volunteered."

"Mr Malfoy isn't on the board of Governors," said Ginny."

"No, but I am." Narcissa said smugly.

"Since when?" said Harry heatedly.

"Since six months ago. I wouldn't have agreed to teach in normal circumstances but I wanted to see what had become of my handiwork."

"Your handiwork?" asked Ginny. "You mean Draco?"

"Oh dear God! I don't mean Draco. Honestly! Do you think that my only achievement in life was giving birth to him? I'll admit that he is perhaps my greatest achievement but I have done other things."

"Obviously nothing worth mentioning if your greatest achievement is that brat." Harry said snidely.

"Harry!" said Dumbledore reproachfully. "I am aware that you and Mr Malfoy have had your differences but there is no need to talk that way to Professor Malfoy"

Narcissa grimaced. "Professor Malfoy? That makes me sound 300 years old." She gave Harry a sickeningly saccharine smile. "I don't think much of you either, sweet, but your mother felt that you were worth dying for."

Harry glared at her. "Leave my mother out of this," he said.

She narrowed her eyes at him. "I'll tell you what, you don't talk about my family and I won't talk about yours. Agreed?"

"Suppose so," said Harry clenching his teeth. "What do you mean by your handiwork then?"

She turned to Dumbledore who nodded at her. "Tommy Riddle," she said. "Who did you think was responsible for little Lord Voldemort out there?"

"You brought him here?" said Harry. "How? The Diary?"

"Trust you to bring up that fiasco. No. That diary's no use to anyone but termites now. As it happens I made a little deal with your headmaster a few months ago. If he agreed not to give in to the urge to play witness for the prosecution at my husband's trial, I'd add a little something in the Dark Lord's night cap, have him turned into a pretty little sweet sixteen again and have him delivered. I even offered to gift wrap him. We both kept our word, as you can see. That's all there is to it really."

Harry gaped at her. He sat down and stared at her disbelievingly. "You mean it was nothing but a simple youth potion? That's what brought him down."

Ginny was looking equally amazed. "We learn shrinking potions that turn toads into tadpoles in third year. You can't expect us to believe that that's all that it took."

"Was your husband planning this all along?" Harry asked. "It would be just like him to dispose of the existing Dark Lord just so he could take his place."

"I love it how everyone immediately assumes that this whole thing was Lucius' idea," Narcissa said with sarcasm. "And don't you presume to know how my husband's mind works."

"You mean it was your idea?" said Ginny.

"More or less. It's sort of been a pet project of mine since the Dark Lord materialized last year. I wondered why he used such crude measure of resurrection and if there were other ways. So I did a little research.

"I didn't intend to use what I learned, but desperate times call for desperate measures. I knew the headmaster wouldn't turn me down."

"So that's all it was. A simple youth potion?" Harry repeated.

"There was nothing simple about it. Do you want to take over?" she asked the headmaster.

"No, you go on. As I said you shall explain your part in this and I shall explain mine."

She pouted. "My part takes a lot more explaining," she muttered. "A youth-potion eliminates the affects of age on the body," she said rather as if she were delivering a lecture. "Now that sort of thing couldn't be used on the dark lord because his body hadn't aged. The body he fashioned for himself was only a year old. I couldn't turn that thing back to what he looked like fifty years ago because fifty years ago it didn't exist.

"So if I want a sixteen year old Dark Lord I'd have to create a new body for him, which isn't exactly a walk in the park is it? His old body was destroyed with the rebounded killing curse he sent at you. What I needed to make was a mortal, sixteen year old body that would then continue to age normally.

"Now, let's talk about his soul -"

"He didn't have a soul." Harry blurted at her.

Narcissa scowled at him, "His spirit then. For that I'd have to remove it from the old body before I could fashion a new one. While that takes care of weakening his powers enough it doesn't help with memory extraction."

"What's that?" Harry was started to get interested in spite of himself.

"Extracting memories. What did you think it was? It's easy to remove thoughts from a body, but not from a soul or spirit. The memories and experiences make that spirit what it is. In effect you're altering someone's essence. That's even harder than the body bit, it never works completely either. He still will be able to remember parts of his previous life. There still will be remnants of Voldemort in Tom Riddle but it's the best I could do.

"Finally we have to - how do I put this - reset his powers so to speak. He can't go around as powerful as he was when he was old snake eyes can he? His magic would be completely out of control. There would be too much accidental magic going on for anyone's good. Therefore it has to be toned down. As I said, the whole procedure's anything but simple."

"But you did it," said Ginny incredulously. "Wouldn't it have been easier just to kill him?"

Narcissa dipped her head in mock salute at Dumbledore. "That's where he comes in."

"I do not approve of murder unless there is no other way out," he said. "Death does not destroy evil. It merely shifts the focus. I blame myself for not seeing when Lord Voldemort came to be even when he was right under my nose fifty four years ago. This time I hope to remove all trace of evil from him. It is as much a second chance for myself as it is for him"

Harry didn't really understand Dumbledore's reasoning. He was still going over what Narcissa had said. "So you spiked Voldemort's drink with a potion that did all that?" he said to her. "Didn't he realize what was happening?"

"Did I say that I spiked Voldemort's drink with a potion that did all that?"

"You just said -"

"That I added a potion. What I gave him was Draught of the Living Death. I didn't want him waking up in the middle of it, did I?"

"Then you -"

"Then I did what had to be done. Stuck a portkey under his arm to have him whisked away to where I wouldn't be disturbed. By the by, we told Riddle that it was a potion that did all that, so don't go and tell him it wasn't."

"Why?" asked Ginny.

"So he spends his time looking up potions and not the real thing," said Dumbledore. "Neither of us are certain that the process can be reversed but if there is a way it is more than certain that he would be able to find it if pointed in the right direction."

"You also said that you weren't a Death Eater," Ginny said to Narcissa accusingly.

"I'm not. Do you think that I'd want to spend all my spare time running around in a mask screaming 'Hail Voldemort'?"

"Then how did you get close enough to whisk him anywhere?"

Narcissa turned away from them. "That's for me to know and you not to find out. Isn't it time for you to start explaining things?" she said to Dumbledore hurriedly.

He gave a disappointed sigh, "I had hoped that you would have changed your mind. I do not wish to keep anything from them. The results of doing so can prove to be quite disastrous. We have the tragic events of last June to attest for that. Do you not think they have a right to know?"

Kind blue eyes met cold blue ones. Narcissa's nostrils flared and she exhaled deeply blowing out two clouds of billowing smoke through them; it made her look, Harry thought, like one of the agitated dragons he had faced during the first task of the Triwizard tournament.

She looked away from Dumbledore abruptly and stared fixedly at a paperweight on the table. "We've-been-through-this," she said jerkily. "You agreed that nothing would be divulged that could be potentially damaging to myself or my immediate family."

"It will make them all the less inclined to trust you," Dumbledore said.

"At exactly what point in this conversation or any prior to this did I give you the impression that I cared?" she said edgily. "You ask me do they not have the right to know. They have the right to know why he is here, that I was the one who caused him to be in such a state and why I did it. They do not have the right to know how these events came to pass. That is my business." Narcissa said all this very fast, never meeting Dumbledore's eyes, as if she were afraid that something might stop her from getting the words out if she slowed down.

"Very well," said Dumbledore, who was not looking very happy about this arrangement. "You both may be reassured that although Mrs Malfoy may have had dealings with Death Eaters she is not one of them. The means that were used to bring Tom Riddle to his present condition are -" he paused to glance in her direction "- frowned upon by the Magical Law Enforcement," he finished delicately.

"Her husband's a death eater." Ginny persisted.

Narcissa whipped her head around and gave her the same intent look that had previously been reserved for the paperweight. "That was never proved before the Wizengamot. I hear your father gets his kicks from Muggle appliances. Does your mother feel the same way?"

"No, but that's different -"

"Miss Weasley," cut in Dumbledore. "There is no need to dwell on that. You have my word that she is not a Death Eater."

"What if it's a trap?" Harry said hotly. "What if he does have all his memories and he wants to get to us from the inside?"

"I have seen into his mind," said Dumbledore calmly. "Everything in there is exactly how it should be. He is still far away from becoming Voldemort. This time I hope to make sure that he stays Tom Riddle."

"What about the other Death Eaters?" asked Harry. "Don't tell me that her sister went along with this."

"Bella? Hell no! She's probably running around with the rest of them like a bunch of chickens with their heads cut off. I didn't stay to watch how they'd take it. You'll agree that it was best that I wasn't seen anywhere near the scene of the crime." Narcissa said with a strange look in her eyes that Harry couldn't quite make out.

"So what's going to be done about them?" he asked her.

"Not my problem, sonny. My part of the deal was to hand over one Tom Riddle. The Death Eaters are for your precious Order to sort out."

Harry stared at her, "You're not afraid that they'll come after you?"

Narcissa didn't answer this at once but smoked steadily away on her cigarette. She didn't even look at either of them 'till she had finished it and lit another one directly from the glowing end of the first. "I don't know," she said finally. "I should be quaking in my boots, but I'm not. I don't know if they know that I'm to blame or not. They may not come after me."

"What if they do?" asked Ginny.

Narcissa shrugged. "Then I guess it will be my problem. I'll deal with it."

"The few remaining Death Eaters that were not captured in June are currently in a state of fear and disarray at the sudden loss of their Dark Lord," said Dumbledore. "They will take several months to pull themselves together and form any sort of stand. When the time comes we will be ready for them. Is there anything else that you would like to ask?"

"Yes," said Harry brusquely. "What exactly do you expect us to do with Voldemort here? Forgive and forget and live happily ever after?"

"Voldemort is not here, Harry. Tom Riddle is. He is not Voldemort now any more than you are. He is just a boy and I expect you to treat him as you would any other boy."

"He opened the Chamber of Secrets in his fifth year," said Ginny. "He isn't a complete innocent."

"No," said Narcissa. "He isn't. His actions did result in a child's death but he hasn't really killed anyone. Your headmaster wishes to give him a second chance before he is corrupted completely."

"That's stupid," said Harry harshly. "Even if we don't count everything he did after his fifth year, what he did is still unforgivable. I think that you should have killed him when you had the chance"

Narcissa sniggered at him. It was an ugly sound. For a second she looked remarkably like her sister. "You sound like my dear departed cousin. Always going on about how A deserved to die and B deserved the Kiss and C deserved to burn in hell for all eternity. Righteous sod."

Harry's throat was suddenly dry and he felt his heart pumping hard enough to break through his chest. "Sirius - Sirius - was -"

"A fool," she said softly. "He was a fool and that is what - ."

"DON'T TALK ABOUT HIM LIKE THAT!" screamed Harry at her jumping to his feet. "You have no right!"

She raised an eyebrow at him. "Sit down," she said. "If you want people to treat you like an adult, for Merlin's sake try to behave like one. You will just have to accept that he wasn't a perfect, flawless character. He was reckless, did exactly as he pleased with no consideration for anyone or anything and was carried away with his own cleverness. He'd get what he thought were wonderful ideas and go ahead with them, never thinking them through and terrible things would happen. That's the story of his life and ultimately what lead him to his death."

Harry couldn't speak; his throat had clammed up suddenly. He didn't sit down. He just stood there staring at her.

Dumbledore cleared his throat. "That will be enough, Narcissa. Do not distress him any more than you have to. Please sit down, Harry. We should not be too hasty while dealing out death. For who are any of us to decide who has the right to live or die?" He looked over his half-moon spectacles straight into Harry's eyes. "He is not the Dark Lord yet. He could be stopped this time. Just try to forget that he once grew up to become the World's most feared wizard, and then it is more than likely that he won't"

Harry swallowed the lump in his throat painfully and sat down again. "What about the prophesy?" he asked. "Am I supposed to forget that? My godfather died because Voldemort wanted it."

"What prophesy?" Narcissa asked. She seemed genuinely puzzled. "He who speaks the tongue of serpents will bring forth a plague of terror that shall last for one and ten years -"

"I don't know about that one." Harry said refusing to look at her. "I meant the one about me and Voldemort Trelawney made. You know, the one that all the fuss at the ministry was about."

"Oh that prophesy!" she said dismissively. "You don't need to worry about that."

"How can I not worry about it? It says that I either have to kill him or be killed myself. "

"Do you believe everything Sybill Trelawney tells you?" Narcissa asked. "If I had dug a grave for every time that woman predicted someone's death I would have uncovered an area the size of a world cup Quidditch stadium by now."

Harry glared at her. "But this was a real prophesy. She went into a trance and everything. One must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives. One of us is going to end up killing each other." Beside him he heard Ginny gasp.

Narcissa gave him an odd look. "And you're certain that it will come true? I wouldn't have thought you a person who gave that much weight to prophesy and envisage."

"The first half of it came true," Harry shot at her.

"So you say," she said giving him a gentle smile. "So what you're saying is that fate governs all our actions. That every decision you make is pre-destined. That if it is written in the stars that tomorrow morning Harry Potter will streak across the Great Hall wearing nothing but a feather boa singing, 'I've got a lovely bunch of coconuts,' then that is what he will do."

Ginny squeaked. Harry scowled at her. "Stop picturing it," he said shortly. He turned back to Narcissa. "That's ridiculous."

"Yes, perhaps it was a rather drastic illustration," she said. "But my point was that you believe that we are merely pawns in some divine chess game. You feel that we have no more control over what we do any more than we have over the passing of seasons."

"That's not what I said," Harry said angrily. "I make my own decisions."

"And are you responsible for your own actions."

"Yes, but-"

"And your actions result in your future. That means you and not the heavens control your destiny, so by believing in this prophesy you are contradicting yourself."

"But - "

"Why worry about it? We have just established that it's nothing but a load of piffle, so carry on with your life and leave fortune telling to the fakirs."

"But the first half came true! "

"Conversely if you decide that your fate is not your own - " Narcissa carried on as if she hadn't heard him, " - then nothing that you do or do not do will have any effect over what is to happen so why beat yourself over the head about it? Carry on with your life and let destiny take its own course."

Harry opened his mouth and then shut it again. "That - that just - "

"Makes sense?" Narcissa said smiling.

"In a completely warped way, "Ginny cut in before Harry could say anything. "What was the part of this prophesy that came true?"

"I'll tell you later," Harry said. "Professor Dumbledore, I can't just carry on with my life and ignore what you told me. You said that - "

"Why ever not?" said Dumbledore his eyes showing the first sign of a twinkle that evening. "After all the prophesy mentions the Dark Lord and as there are no Dark Lords present there is no cause for undue anxiety. Perhaps it is time for you to treat yourself as a normal boy as well as Tom."

Harry didn't know quite what to make of this. He just sat there trying to make some sense of the sudden sharp turn that his life had taken. An uncomfortable silence settled between the four people in the office and seemed to stretch on, none of them willing-or able- to break it.

"I think it is best if we all retire for the night if you have no further questions," said Dumbledore rising to his feet. "You will have a lot to tell Miss Granger and Mr Weasley. You might be well off knowing that Mr Riddle will be going under the name Jeremiah Arnez during his stay here. I bid you all Goodnight."

As Mrs Malfoy was a few steps in front of them Harry and Ginny descended the staircase in silence. "Well," she said with a cheerfulness that contrasted strongly with how Harry felt when the reached the Entrance gargoyle. "I'd better make sure that Draco hasn't given himself an aneurysm."

"I still don't trust you," Harry said. "I don't trust you one bit."

She was a couple of inches taller than him so she bent down so they were on eye level. "Good for you," she said with the same nasty smile she had given him in the Great Hall. "Trusting someone too easily can prove injurious to your health. I'll see you in class." She headed off in the direction of the Dungeons leaving Harry feeling much lighter once she had left.

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