Silver King

16

"What do you think the bearded one wants?" Jet hissed to Harry as they sat at the Slytherin table. Harry was eating his breakfast while Jet was sat on the table.

"No clue," Harry admitted honestly as he continued eating his breakfast. "whatever it is I doubt it'll be fun for us if the way he talked about it was any indication."

"Oh, the baboon is here." Jet said when he noticed Ron walk into the hall while holding a rat. "Hmm, yummy." Jet flicked his tongue out.

"Leave Weasley's rat alone." Harry said as he rolled his eyes, while Harry did not like Weasley he didn't want to take away his pet, he wasn't that cruel.

"You're right, I've already eaten yesterday, a meal for the future I suppose." Jet replied.

"Thank you for coming, Mr Potter" Dumbledore said as Harry arrived in his office.

"You're welcome sir," Harry said as he sat in front of Dumbledore's desk while Dumbledore sat behind it. "hello Fawkes." Harry said to the phoenix who was sat on his perch. Fawkes trilled at Harry, apparently his way of greeting him.

"Where is Jet, Mr Potter?" Dumbledore asked when he couldn't see the snake.

"He is right here, sir." Harry said just as Jet's head slowly reached out from under Harry's right sleeve and rested on his right hand, Jet hissed softly at Dumbledore. "He says hello." Harry translated for Dumbledore.

"Ah, hello to you too." Dumbledore nodded to Jet before turning back to Harry. "Once again I must thank you for coming, Mr Potter. I realize that you likely have better things to do than waste time talking with an old man such as myself, but there is something very important I must talk to you about."

"Last time we talked you said I might end up hating you by the end of this conversation." Harry reminded him.

"Yes," Dumbledore nodded. "it is possible that you might do so, I rather hope you don't but if you did then I would understand."

"Sir, perhaps you should give me a reason to hate you, then we can go from there." Harry suggested.

"Perhaps," Dumbledore softly chuckled before the smile left his face. "Mr Potter, may I call you Harry?" Dumbledore asked, when Harry nodded he continued speaking. "What do you know about Voldemort and the last war?" Dumbledore asked.

"Well..." Harry paused to think about it before he continued speaking. "...I know that a lot of people died, people were so scared of Voldemort that they were afraid to say his name and that it apparently stopped the night he tried to kill my parents."

"So the basics then," Dumbledore hummed. "well I feel like I must correct you on a few things, Harry. Firstly it wasn't 'a lot of people' that died, it was roughly half of the magical population along with a small amount of the muggle population. Families, new and some nearly as old as Hogwarts itself, were wiped out."

"But I thought that Voldemort supported the 'pureblood above all' idea?" Harry frowned. "Why on Earth would he and his followers be actively trying to kill so many people?"

"Because despite what he might say, the one thing that Voldemort valued above all was power." Dumbledore answered. "He was ruthless, Harry As far as he was concerned if you went against him in any way then you would be his enemy and you would have to be dealt with. Do you understand?" Dumbledore asked, he continued speaking when Harry nodded. "The reason why people are afraid to speak his name, even now, is an understandable one. In the muggle world people are for the most part physically equal, now Voldemort was not only incredibly skilled, but he was also incredibly powerful and had far more magical strength than most.

How dangerous he was is part of the reason why people fear him, but far from the only one. During the last war he used some very complicated and advanced magic to place a taboo on his name, what that means is that if someone were to say his name then he and his followers would know, they would then come after them. If you were somewhere like in Hogwarts then you would be protected, but anywhere else and you risk your life simply by saying his name."