Bonded chapter 91

Bonded Chapter 91 -

Dumbledore let out a deep sigh as he sank into his seat. He took a moment to look around. With the benefit of magic, his office was repaired and looked like an angry teenager hadn't created a massive hole in one of the walls. A sad smile appeared on his face, knowing that sooner or later, he would no longer have access to this office. After all of his failures, it was possible that someone could take the opportunity to boot him out of the school. Even if they didn't, he would insist on leaving. Too much had gone wrong, and his failures had become too much, especially regarding Harry Potter.

A few people had told him before that he was obsessed with the boy, jokingly, of course, but they were right. Knowing that the boy was potentially the one who would stop his greatest failure, Tom Riddle, had made the boy very interesting to Dumbledore. Especially when one considers his family history. Much like Tom, Harry was born to an old family mixed with someone of Muggle heritage. The pair had always had many similarities. Powerful, handsome, skilled, disregarding rules when they deemed them unimportant and so on.

Having spent so much time observing the boy, Dumbledore hadn't been able to stop himself from getting attached to him. Placing Harry with the Dursley family had been a horrendous mistake in hindsight, though at the time it had made much sense to him. Taking advantage of Lily's blood protection and placing him with her sister would afford Harry a level of protection that very few spells and wards could match. Protections that proved to be valuable in Harry's first year when Professor Quirrell had tried to kill him. Though the fact that Harry even ended up in that situation was another failure that Dumbledore was personally holding himself accountable for.

It hadn't taken long for Dumbledore to find out that Harry was being treated less than ideally. Something that tore at his heartstrings, Lily and James Potter were some of the best people he had ever known. To treat their son so horribly had bothered him deeply, especially knowing that Petunia was also his aunt; had the concept of family truly not mattered to her as much as her jealousy over her sister? When she was younger, Petunia had written to him after finding out that her sister was a witch and tried to see if she could get into Hogwarts. Unfortunately, she couldn't come because she was a Muggle. Dumbledore had shot her down as gently and politely as he could. He had known that Petunia would have some problems with the world that she wasn't allowed to be a part of, but never had he suspected that she would take that out on her nephew, nor did he believe that she would allow her son and husband to do the same. He had contacted them a couple of times to make sure that they were treating Harry properly, but hadn't done more than that, even though he should have. He hadn't even monitored him much beyond a device that let him know Harry was alive and a spy that he had left in the same street. There were plenty of excuses for him to make, plenty of excuses that he had told himself. He was too busy; he didn't want to interfere too much in Harry's life. The hardships that the boy suffered would benefit Harry in the long run, or at the very least would be worth the protection provided by the blood wards. Harry had suffered so much that the young boy didn't deem the price worth the cost. As Dumbledore's brother once said, it was easy to make the decisions when you're not the one suffering the consequences. something that Dumbledore couldn't help but feel applied here.

He had made the decisions on Harry's behalf; he had been involved in nearly all of Harry's life and had made several decisions for the boy. Dumbledore decided when Harry should receive his father's invisibility cloak, where Harry would live, and where he would stay during the summer holidays. He had known that Harry might not like his decisions, but had decided that they were worth it in the long run. It turns out they weren't. This 'Venom', this creature that Dumbledore was sure was manipulating Harry and fuelling his rage, had plenty of ammunition to use. Most people suffer in life, but he had met very few children who had suffered as Harry had and still lived to tell the tale. Draco Malfoy had been a thorn in Harry's side for years, but Harry hadn't had him killed, even though he had the opportunity to. That creature assisting him, the creature that was now apparently merged with Harry's owl, had viciously attacked young Mr Malfoy twice but had never killed him. If Dumbledore's guess was right, then Harry had been in contact with Venom for a while before he had even tried to kill Severus Snape, most likely because Harry had only gone after him after discovering his role in James and Lily's deaths. But the Dursleys, Harry and Venom had had them killed. The fact that the young Dudley was spared told Dumbledore that they couldn't get to Dudley, were plotting to get him later, or there was enough of Harry in there to spare his cousin.

Not for the first time, he wondered what Venom was. Newt had sent him a reply with a few creatures that had similarities to what he had mentioned, but nothing that fitted. Highly acrobatic and capable of great leaps, able to extend tentacles from its body, and conjure weapons. Bites off and eats heads. Sapient. Most importantly, immune to the Killing Curse. Was it a creation of Lily's? He had only guesswork as to what happened that night; it was possible that she created the creature. Perhaps through illegal breeding or maybe through a dark ritual of some sort. Lily was close with Sirius; did he perhaps give her access to some of the Black Family secrets? Venom only really popped into existence around when Sirius broke out of Azkaban after all. Was Venom something Lily created, possibly using Black Family Secrets that were shared with her by Sirius and was held in stasis and kept there until Sirius actively tried to save Harry, and so activated Venom from his stasis? Or possibly Venom was some contingency project created by Lily that was meant to look after Harry and Sirius, and meant to become active when Sirius took custody of Harry, but instead Sirius was imprisoned, and so Venom remained dormant until Sirius escaped. It made some amount of sense, as many people suspected that they would die in the war and had made plans for if they did. How intelligent was Venom? Does he simply respond to what he or Harry deems threats? If that was the case, would that mean that the Dursleys had been threats to Harry? Did Venom even have anything to do with Potters? Was he possibly something that came into existence after the night of James and Lily's murders?

There was so much unknown to him.

But there was also much known to him. He should have done more to rein Snape in, but he didn't because he wanted to give his spy some freedom and trusted him not to go too far. Besides, it was possible that Voldemort could have returned, and Severus as his spy was far more valuable than Severus as a teacher. How many students' educations had been ruined because of Dumbledore's inaction? Because of what he allowed Snape to do and get away with? He could only imagine how Harry viewed him. To Harry, Dumbledore was the man who failed to protect his parents, dumped him in an abusive house and then let a Death Eater bully him. No wonder the boy didn't trust him anymore, no wonder Venom was able to influence him so easily.

"Albus," A voice called, pulling him out of his thoughts. He looked up for a moment before his gaze flicked over to the fireplace, where he saw Amelia Bones's head forming in green flames. "Albus, are you there?"

"I am here," Dumbledore called as he got up from his seat and walked over to the fireplace with more than the usual spring in his steps. "I hope everything is okay? Has Harry shown up?" He asked quickly.

Dumbledore had kept his distance, knowing that his presence could possibly prevent Harry from coming, but had been ready to head to the Ministry at a moment's notice to confront him. Severus Snape was being put on trial for all of his crimes, past and present. The trial had started earlier this morning; it had been days since the trial had been announced, and he anticipated that Harry would try something.

"Yes and yes," Amelia replied, earning a confused frown from Dumbledore. "First of all, Severus Snape has been found guilty of a great many crimes. I'll be blunt, Albus, I'm happy to say that the bastard is being sentenced to execution; he'll be spending what remaining time he has left before that in Azkaban, I'm pleased to say." Dumbledore let out a deep sigh. Despite everything that had happened, despite everything he knew, he had considered Snape to be a friend once. Still, he wasn't stupid enough to expect anyone else to also be saddened. Severus had hurt a great many people.

"And Harry?" Dumbledore asked once more, pushing the thoughts of Severus Snape to the side.

"He showed up straight after the trial had finished and surrendered himself to me," Amelia revealed, shocking Dumbledore. "I've issued an emergency meeting of the Wizengemot to take place within the hour; this mess needs to be sorted out as quickly as possible so we can focus on Voldemort."

"Agreed," Dumbledore said absently whilst mentally digesting the information that he had been told. "Might I please be allowed to come and see him?" Requested Dumbledore. "It is important."

"Albus," Amelia sighed. "I don't mean to be indelicate, but it's my opinion that you should not be attending this meeting, nor should you meet with Harry Potter until after the trial."

"Amelia, please, it is imperative that I meet Harry; I have much to discuss with him."

"You are more than free to do so after his trial, Dumbledore," Amelia replied. "Forgive me, but you're far too close to this, you know you are."

"That might be, but I-"

"And I'd rather not have another situation like that of Severus Snape's," Amelia continued in a slightly firmer tone. "The last thing that I or Magical Britain needs is for you to interfere in another trial because you believe the end result will be worth it." She added, earning a wince from Dumbledore. She might have noticed it as her voice softened slightly when she continued. "I know you have the best of intentions, Dumbleore, but perhaps this might well be the one time where you shouldn't interfere. Please, I'm asking you as a former student, as the Minister of Magic and as the only adult member left in a family that followed you to their end."

"I understand," Dumbledore gulped, looking down at the floor, his face twisted with sorrow, shame and sadness. "I...I will trust you to make sure that justice prevails today." He said quietly.

"Always," She nodded to him before her head disappeared and the flames returned to normal.

Dumbledore let out a deep sigh before heading back to his chair. He dropped onto it and slumped immediately. He had known exactly what Amelia had meant. Her family had followed him and died, partially because of the man whom Dumbledore had been defending for years —the man he had saved from Azkaban —the man who had caused more damage in the years that followed because of Dumbledore's actions. Dumbledore's brother, Aberforth, had no shortage of things that he liked to rant about; one of his favourite topics was his older brother's interference in matters that didn't concern him.

"Who made you watchdog of the universe?" His brother had once asked him. "People can live their lives perfectly fine without an irritating busybody like you sticking his beak into other people's business."

"My beak?" A confused Dumbledore had asked.

"Yes! Your beaky nose!" An agitated Aberforth had said before he threw a bottle at a hag's head when she tried to leave his pub without paying.

Fawkes chose that moment to break him out of his thoughts as he landed on the perch near Dumbledore's desk. His loyal phoenix let out a small chirp before he started singing, singing as he always did when Dumbledore needed him to. Few things were as soothing to the soul as Fawkes's singing.

"Thank you, Fawkes," Dumbledore sighed deeply, his eyes suddenly feeling much heavier than before. "I don't really know what to do, my friend. So many lives I've touched, so many lives that are worse now because of my actions and inaction. I've lost the trust of so many, I've lost the trust of the order, even of Minerva, my oldest friend. And Harry, poor Harry, I failed him so deeply. I don't know how I can make this right." He yawned, his body heavier than before. He leaned back into his chair as sleep overtook him.

(.)

"Albus. Albus. Dumbledore," A voice called. "Dumbledore! Are you there?!" The voice shouted, shaking him out of his sleep.

Dumbledore blinked hard as he looked around, realising that he had fallen asleep in his chair. Fawkes had obviously left as he was no longer on his perch. Dumbledore shook his head and got up with a groan. Sleeping in a chair was never good for one's back, especially at his age.

"Dumbledore, can you hear me?" The voice called once more.

"I am here," Dumbledore called back as he made his way over to the fireplace where Amelia Bone's head was once more in the flames. "I trust you have some news for me, Minister Bones." Dumbledore guessed.

"Indeed, I do," Amelia replied.

"Minister, I feel it would be for the worst if Harry were sent to Azkaban; he'll be vital in this war of ours," Dumbledore frowned.

"Well then, you're in luck," She told him. "Harry Potter is not being sent to Azkaban; in fact, he has been found 'not guilty' and has been released."

(.)

A.N: Hi guys, hope you liked the chapter.

In my original draft, Harry and Venom were supposed to launch an attack on the Ministry, and then there'd be a long trial. I decided to go with this version instead. I hope you guys liked it, more will be explained in the next chapter. Thanks for reading, feel free to leave a review.