Jun 26 1995 continued
Dumbledore was staring out the window of his office. The view allowed him to see the lawn far below and currently students milled around after a day of end-of-year tests. In the distance he saw a group of four young people walking toward the lake and knew from the color of their hair who they were. As he watched Harry and the young ladies who were bonded to him he felt a sense of regret and of pride. Dumbledore really did consider Lily and James Potter amongst his friends and it appeared from Harry's encounter with them that they held no grudge against him. He thought again of the night he left young Harry on the Dursleys' doorstep. He still had the memories of the bondscene that showed the abuse Harry suffered there. He hadn't returned to those memories once the bonding had been completed until that morning. Though he truly could not bring himself to allow the Dursleys to fall to Voldemort and his Death Eaters, he was glad that Alain Delacour would be arranging matters there.
A motion on his desk broke his concentration and he glanced toward it. The Daily Prophet was there and it was open to the story of Crouch Junior masquerading as Moody. The motion that had caught his eye was the drawing of himself and Crouch. Though Dumbledore enjoyed a good laugh at some of the things written about him, this article had hit very close to home. That Barty Crouch Jr. could fool him for an entire year seemed impossible, but yet it had happened. His thoughts turned to the conversation with Alain Delacour once more and after a few minutes a small silver device broke his reverie as it started emitting a sound that sounded very much like a burp. He glanced at a clock that hung on his wall and knew it was time to leave. He had to address the International Confederation of Wizards later about the return of Voldemort. He secured his Pensieve into his traveling bag wishing once again it could be shrunken and lightened but the magic that imbued the unique device prevented it.
Three hours later a weary Dumbledore concluded his briefing to the Witches and Wizards of the ICW. He had displayed several memories to show the return of the Dark Lord and then gave a request to his colleagues.
"Though Magical Great Britain does not request world assistance as of yet, we do ask that you do your best to prevent Voldemort from gaining resources from your respective countries," Dumbledore paused for a few moments and then finished his speech. "Finally I wish to announce my resignation from the position of Supreme Mugwump of this astute organization," This caused a cacophony of voices and yells throughout the chamber. Dumbledore finally requested quiet and the noise settled. "Recently I was reminded that time is something we all crave but never have enough of. I feel I need to spend more of my time dealing with the troubles in my country. I ask only that you choose my replacement carefully for it is imperative that the spread of darkness be contained," He looked around the chamber one last time and then he stood up from the Supreme Mugwump's chair and walked briskly out of the room.
*...**
Harry's interview with Rita Skeeter went much better than he had imagined. With Fleur and Hermione guiding Skeeter to the appropriate questions and cutting her off when she asked one that they knew Harry didn't want to answer, the time wasn't nearly as bad as Harry imagined it would be. Finally the last question was asked.
"Harry, I appreciate your time this evening and hope we can follow up some time in the future, but for now do you have anything that you would like to say directly to the readers."
As Harry contemplated his answer, his thoughts roamed back to a conversation he had with Alain Delacour when he had approached the politician for advice. Alain had asked Harry what he really wanted from the interview.
"Actually sir, I just want to be left alone," Harry had replied. "I just want to be Harry."
Mr. Delacour had studied Harry for a short time before he grimaced and replied. "Son, I wish you could 'ave what you want, but I think you know it won't 'appen. You are 'Arry Potter, ze boy-who-lived and ze banisher of Voldemort. Zough you might not 'ave deserved ze attention when you were an infant, your feats ze other night are all your own. You once again faced down and drove off ze Dark Lord while surviving another killing curse. You selflessly threw yourself in front of it in fact to save someone," Alain's hand came down and rested on Harry's shoulder. "To ze people you are a 'ero..."
"Not really," Harry said. "You, Moony and Dumbledore were there. Voldemort knew he had to leave. Besides, the only reason I was able to hit him was because he didn't expect me to be alive."
"Don't sell yourself short 'Arry. Remus and I were trying to stop 'im ze whole time you were...out of it shall we say. Even with 'im suffering in extreme pain, 'e was still able to block our spells. It was your spell zat forced 'im to flee as quickly as 'e did," Alain gave Harry's shoulder a slight squeeze. "You are a very powerful wizard 'Arry. I could not drive zat many Dementors away, nor could I slice an Acromantula in half with a single spell."
"It was less than half," Harry mumbled. "I only took off a part with a couple of legs."
Alain chuckled. "Nor could I do even zat much. Though speaking of your magical abilities, I still plan on arranging some instructions for you and ze others zis summer when you're with us."
"What type of instructions?" Harry asked. "I mean I can't do magic when I'm there can I?"
....
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