The Troubled Wizard (A Harry Potter Fan Fiction)

Chapter 9

Mr. and Mrs. Weasley let the kids spend a few more minutes with Harry, before asking them to leave the room while they called for Dumbledore. The kids wanted to stay by their friend's side, but after a few minutes of coaxing, and promising they could come right back afterward, they all went downstairs.

Molly sighed as he walked over to the fireplace. Not all of the rooms in the house had their own fireplaces, but sense Bill and Charlie were the oldest, their rooms did.

She looked over at her husband, "Dear, there may come a point during this interaction in which you will have to keep me from strangling the professor."

He chuckled dryly and glared at the large bandage covering Harry's face. "I was just about to tell you the same thing."

Molly chuckled and gave him a kiss before throwing some floo powder into the fireplace and sticking her head inside. "Albus Dumbledore. Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry."

Molly could see Dumbledore sitting at his desk in his office. "Well hello, Molly. To what do I owe the pleasure?"

She glared at him, "Can you come through sir? There is an important matter we need to discuss."

Dumbledore looked taken aback by her steely reaction, "Yes of course." She pulled her head out, and a moment later he walked through. "What's the matter?"

"How could you leave him with those terrible people?! Surely you must have known that they were no good for him?! I can not believe you Albus Dumbledore! How could you be so foolish?!" She glared daggers at him and with each word she took a step closer to him.

"Calm down dear." He held his wife back but too shot a glare at the old wizard.

Dumbledore was completely confused, "I believe I am missing something. Please start from the beginning." Molly took a deep breath, before pointing towards the bed in the corner. It was at this moment that Dumbledore realized they were not alone. "Harry?" he went over to the boy and took in his dismal appearance. "Wh... what happened to him?"

"We went over to his Aunt and Uncle's house to see if he wanted to stay at the Burrow for the weekend," Arthur replied. "This is what we found."

"You mean they were...?" the two Weasleys nodded. "Their own nephew..." at that moment, the flood gates opened. Tears started spilling from his eyes and any animosity that they had held towards the man quickly evaporated.

"I'm sorry for being so harsh with you Professor..." Molly said sadly. "We were afraid that you might have known..."

Dumbledore continued to cry as he brushed a hair off Harry's bandage. "I had no idea... oh James and Lily, how I've failed you..."

"It's alright sir..." Arthur put a hand on his shoulder. "Harry has obviously had a lot of practice hiding this sort of thing from people."

"I should have picked up on it sooner..." he said sadly. "When Harry was a second year, towards the beginning of the semester, Professor Snape came to me. He said that he had noticed that Harry had come back to school wearing a particularly poor glamor. He said that that must have meant Harry was using magic outside of school and wanted to get him in trouble. I told him that Harry probably just had a bad case of acne and was embarrassed. He agreed not to say anything about it, and after a couple of weeks, the glamor was gone. He must have been sporting injuries from the summer before and didn't want anyone to see it. But I should have seen the signs..."

"There's no use blaming yourself for it now." Molly huffed. "It's those muggles that are the real problem."

"I'll see to it that they are handed over to the proper authorities." He assured. "I always knew those muggles were bad news... but I never suspected they would do something like this..."

"Professor, before you turn them in. You may need to... well, send someone over there..." Molly blushed, and he gave her a confused look. "I may have... given the boy a pair of antlers..."

Dumbledore was quiet for a moment, before breaking out into laughter. "Good work my dear. I will see to it that everything is taken care of personally. Besides, don't you think the whole family should have a set?" they all started laughing again at the thought of Vernon and Petunia Dursley sporting a pair of antlers.

Once they stopped laughing, Arthur became serious again. "There is another matter we would like to discuss with you. That being Harry's living arrangements."

Dumbledore nodded for him to continue. "He's staying here." Molly blurted out.

Dumbledore gave her a smile, "That seemed much less like a discussion, and more like a decree. But I wholeheartedly agree. There is no way I would ever send him back to live with those people, and it is obvious you and your family care about him deeply. Sirius is still on the run, so there's no way Harry could stay with him until his name is cleared. I'll see to it that the Ministry is notified, and everything is taken care of." He looked back down at Harry. "How is he?"

Molly sighed and gently caressed Harry's cheek. "Madam Pompfrey was here earlier. She healed him as much as she could and gave me some potions to give him for the next couple of weeks. She said that as long as he rests, and eats right, he should have a full bill of health by the time school starts and should be able to play Quidditch."

Dumbledore nodded, "That's good. Well, I should be going. There is much to be done. Paperwork to sign, muggles to traumatize. I'll be back in the next couple of days to speak to harry once he has woken up."

They both nodded, "We'll keep you informed. Thank you, professor."

He knelt down and patted Harry on the head, "Stay strong my boy." With that, he stepped through the floo, to start making arrangements for his revenge.

Arthur and Molly let out a sigh as they quietly closed the door to go join their children downstairs. They would never let something like this happen ever again...

(A/N - Hey guys, thanks for reading!)