Back from the Dead

Chapter 8

"I believe there's some explaining to be done here," Alastor said, once they had made sure that all the children were asleep, and several Silencing Charms cast over the dining hall.

"I'm in the dark about quite a lot as well." Thad looked from one to the other.

"I'm not quite sure about how the war ended either," Remus admitted.

"We'll start with the truth, then," Hermione said, sighing. "The truth is, Dumbledore left Harry with a task to find the Horcruxes that Voldemort had created. There were seven in total. I'm going to tell you now what the seven were - Salazar Slytherin's locket, Helga Hufflepuff's goblet, Rowena Ravenclaw's tiara, Marvolo Gaunt's ring, Tom Riddle's Diary, Voldemort's snake Nagini, and the one even he didn't know that he had created - Harry himself. I'll explain that one first. That night, in Godric's Hollow, when the curse rebounded, Voldemort's soul was so unstable that it fragmented once again, and the part that left his body latched on to the only source of magic present in the area - and that was Harry. Harry had destroyed the diary without even knowing what it was, back in our second year, and Dumbledore destroyed the ring. The first one we got rid of, after we left the Burrow, was the locket. Well, more like, we found out that the locket Dumbledore had died trying to get was a fake, that Umbridge had the real one. So we infiltrated the Ministry, got the locket, saved a roomful of Muggle-borns, and destroyed the locket a couple of weeks later, with the sword of Gryffindor. Then we went after the goblet, it was in Bellatrix's vault. I impersonated her, we Imperiused Ragnook, got the goblet and escaped the bank on the dragon that was guarding the vault. Griphook fled with the sword so we had the Horcrux but it was still intact. Then we went to Hogwarts, and found the tiara in the Room of Requirement. We used Basilisk fangs to destroy the tiara and the goblet. And then Snape's memories showed us that Harry was actually a Horcrux. I don't know how he got out of that one alive, but the Horcrux in him was killed. He's still a Parselmouth, so he was born with that. Neville killed Nagini; he got the sword of Gryffindor from the Sorting Hat. Once that was done, Harry revealed that he was still alive, and he killed Voldemort. Though, in all honesty, he tried to Disarm him. With brother wands meeting, and Voldemort's one-seventh of a soul, the Expelliarmus was far more powerful than the Killing Curse. And that's how the war ended."

"I see I made a few mistakes along the way, then..." Everyone jumped. Even after more than a decade and half of not having heard it, there was absolutely no mistaking that voice...

*Page Break*

Not even half an hour after Moody returned, Susan turned up, this time with tears in her eyes.

"It's... it's Professor Dumbledore..."

"Thank you," Harry sighed. "Liam, please notify the McKellens to take on this case."

Dumbledore, of all people, was back. Harry's suspicions had been coming so accurately, that it was starting to hurt. He pretended that he had put their deaths behind him, but he knew that he never had. Every time he remembered any of them, it hurt, though he'd bottled it all up.

And now, he was about to face the man due to whom he had been through more than enough trials to last a lifetime, a man he had once respected, and now was unsure about.

*Page Break*

"Expelliarmus!" Kimberley quickly disarmed the former Chief Warlock, as they hurried forward. "You are to be taken into custody in accord with Ministry regulations."

"Very well." The Aurors marveled that he could be so calm.

Two minutes later - they had used a very pale, ashen faced Minerva's Floo - they were at the Ministry, and Liam very nearly fainted as he caught sight of his former Headmaster. He only barely managed to send a Patronus to Harry, before collapsing onto his desk.