by DrT - Sahits

known either when he abandoned the child at the Dursleys. That left the third option in
Dumbledore's opinion -- Harry's power being used by someone else to advance their agenda, as he
had been doing to Harry himself, although he rarely admitted that even to himself. That scenario
now seemed to be in play, with someone else influencing Harry.
It wasn't that Dumbledore had wanted Harry abused, it was just that he wanted Harry to grow up
without a knowledge of magic. He needed to be the one to control Harry, to guide him to the final
confrontation with Voldemort, which would sadly end with the death of both. Dumbledore was not
as comfortable with that as he had once been. He had come to care for Harry, although not really
love him. In the original time line, that affection had interfered with The Plan, until the entire
scheme had unraveled, leaving Harry unprepared to fight Voldemort directly and winning in large
part because of the support of his friends and, of course, pure luck and raw power.
Now Dumbledore was in a panic. He had to find Harry and save him from any outside influences,
even if it meant his own influence over Harry could end up lessened.
"What do you think, Paddy?" Remus asked once they were alone. He and Sirius had also received
slightly more informative notes as well as the ones they had shown Dumbledore.
"I think . . . that I'm confused," Sirius admitted. "I think Harry's right, and we can't fully trust
Dumbledore. I just don't know if we can trust he's as safe as he claims."
"I have to agree," Remus said, unhappily.
8:35 am
Hermione woke up in a bright, cheerful room, which confused her for a moment. Then she
remembered what had occurred in the wee hours of that morning.
She had run away with Harry. Ron Weasley might have caused a few more naughty thoughts to
cross her mind over the previous weeks, but Harry wasn't far behind in that department. Plus,
Hermione had known from at least the time she had left Harry to confront Voldemort by himself at
the end of their first year that Harry was her leader. She was called to him . . . to advise him and to
follow him. She wasn't sure if it could be more than that or not, despite many fantasies, desires, and
hopes on the subject.
She had often wondered how closely she might become with Harry. Now, it might just be the two of
them for two weeks, and she would find out. Hermione blushed slightly as her body responded to
that line of thinking.
She jumped slightly as a light knock came on her door. "Come in!"
Harry came up with a breakfast tray. "Good morning," he said, fully dressed and obviously wide
awake. "I thought we could talk about a few things while you eat breakfast, if you don't mind."
"Let me run to the bathroom first," Hermione said.
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