He felt his hands grow heavy, as if all the blood in his body decided to congregate there at once. Harry flexed his fingers and had to keep himself from reaching for his wand, just to make sure it was there.
"Yes, why don't you tell her what's going on?" he asked. "Why don't you tell her how you abandoned me with those magic-hating monsters and how you've been stealing my parents' money away all this time?"
"Albus?" Molly asked, at a loss for what to think.
"Harry," the headmaster said with a wounded expression. "I never abandoned you. You don't think I'd do that to you, do you?"
Mrs. Weasley looked to him.
The nervous flutter in his stomach exploded to life once more and Harry felt the edges of panic. Had he been wrong? Was this Quirrell all over again? All last year he'd been so distracted by Snape only to learn it was Quirrell who was trying to steal the Sorcerer's Stone for Voldemort, who'd been possessed by Voldemort.
Was there some other guardian out there?
'No, ' the Harold part of him thought. 'We're right. We have to be right. It's the only thing that makes sense. '
'Since when does the wizarding world make sense?' his doubt asked.
'He's the snake,' the Harry part of him said, full of righteous anger. 'We can't trust the snake. We're not as dumb-as-a-door anymore. '
"Yes," Harry said, looking Dumbledore straight in the eye. "I think you did exactly that."
"Harry," the headmaster said sadly, "the goblins have twisted your mind. I never abandoned you, and I never stole from you. Your family has always been very generous patrons, I was merely following in their footsteps and doing what I thought was best."
"Then you are his guardian?" Mrs. Weasley asked.
"His magical guardian, yes," Dumbledore explained. "His aunt and uncle have the right to him in the muggle world."
Harry's doubts fluttered again and he tried to tamp them down, remembering what Lichfield had said.
"I was born at St. Mungo's to a witch and wizard," he said with maybe a touch of panic coloring his words. "I never should have gone to the muggle world. Someone here should have looked after me."
"The person your parents picked proved untrustworthy, so I was appointed by the Minister of Magic herself," Dumbledore said in a tone clearly communicating he thought he shouldn't have to explain himself, especially to a child. "It was up to me to decide what's best for you."
Harry switched tracks and attacked again.
"Like it was up to you to decide what was best for my parents' money?" Harold asked. "They locked their account down as much as they could. My grandfather called what you did the Beggar's Circuit. That doesn't sound generous to me. It wasn't your place to help yourself to their money or to kick people off their land."
"It's a guardian's duty to see to the financial affairs of their charges, and I never kicked people off of anything," the headmaster said in the same wounded voice, but Harold wasn't having it.
"Right, you just had Gropegold do it for you so you could keep your hands clean," Harold attacked again.
"Gropego-!" Molly exclaimed.
"And the only person who twisted anyone's mind is you," Harold said forcefully. "I saw what you did to Hammerhand. He tried to protect my family and you twisted his mind!"
The part of him that was still the little boy in the cupboard spoke up and the Harold part of him proved defenseless against him.
"It's a guardian's duty to actually raise their charges," Harry said quietly. "They're not supposed to throw them away the first time they need their nappy changed."
Mrs. Weasley looked at the headmaster in shock and for the first time he seemed uncertain how to respond.
"Living with your relatives was the safest place for you," Albus said at last. "And what happened with the goblin was an unfortunate accident. I only intended to persuade him that it was for the best."
"Albus," Molly said, looking stricken. "Gropegold? Surely you wouldn't do that."
Dumbledore for once looked humbled and hung his head.
"We only have five years left. We've been here for twenty five years," she said beseechingly as Harry looked at her curiously. This time he was the one at a loss.
"I'm sorry," the headmaster said, "but it's for the greater good."
Mrs. Weasley paled, whatever she had thought his answer would be - that wasn't it. A moment of silence held before-
"Get out!" Mrs. Weasley said.
"I beg your pardon?" Dumbledore said.
"You heard me," Molly said forcefully, pointing at the door. "GET OUT!"
"Surely you don't think so ill of me," the headmaster said, back in his wounded old man voice. "Two of your sons: Fred, and Percy are named for me."
Percy legs fell out from under him as he collapsed back to his chair; Harry hadn't even recalled him standing. Fred looked like his brain had melted.
"And don't you think for one minute I'm not considering changing them to James and Barry for what you've done," Mrs. Weasley said, backing Dumbledore towards the door. "Steal from a child? Abandon him? HOW COULD YOU?"
Harry watched in stupefied silence as plump little housewife, Molly Weasley, faced down the most powerful wizard in the country.
"You are not welcome in this house," she said. "And if I never hear the name Albus Dumbledore again, it'll be too soon!"
"Might I use your floo?" the old man asked, as if hoping for one last courtesy.
"No, you may not use our floo!" an astonished Mrs. Weasley said. "Boys!" she cried imperiously. "Throw him out!"
Fred and Percy got immediately to their feet. Her tone was such even Harry found himself moving to open the door as the brothers shuffled their headmaster out into the garden. Harry slammed the door with a smile on his face, though he did peek through the curtains until he saw Dumbledore start to walk away.
There were quick footfalls on the stairs as a concerned-looking Mr. Weasley came back down.
"Did someone say Dumbledore?" he asked.
"He was here," a still-fuming Molly said. "And you won't believe what he said."
"We don't believe we could be named for him," Fred said, standing by a nodding Percy. "How does that happen?"
"It's a long story, Fred," their father said.
Fred sat down and crossed his arms in defiance, clearly communicating he wasn't going anywhere until he heard it.
"It's about - relations," their mother added.
.....
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