Side Story – Scandal

New POV*

Inside a grand and magnificent circular office, full of countless magical objects ranging from the most mundane and simple to the very powerful. A few very curious alchemical instruments sat on spindle-legged tables, whirring and emitting little puffs of smoke.

There were shelves filled with countless tones on a variety of subjects of magic. On the wall were portraits of old headmasters and headmistresses, all of whom were snoozing gently in their frames.

There was also an enormous, claw-footed desk right in the middle of the room with parchments pilled on top of it and a perch right next to it. Sitting behind it was a shabby, tainted wizard's hat — the Sorting Hat.

In the fireplace, a nice fire was going on making the room nice and toasty. Above the desk was a model of the solar system with was near to life as the planets slowly spinning around the sun.

Sitting on a large intricate chair was an old man with silver hair and beard both long enough to tuck into his belt. He was very tall, thin, and had on long flowing silvery-white robes that swept the ground. His blue eyes were light, bright, and sparkling behind half-moon spectacles and his nose was very long and crooked, as though it had been broken at least twice.

The old man was Albus Dumbledore one of the most powerful wizards in Magical Great Britain if not the one.

Suddenly there was a shrill beautiful cry of a bird-like creature that swept in the office on its beautiful ruby-colored wings. Doing a few circles in the air, it tossed a newspaper before the old man then landed on its perch.

"Thank you, Fawkes, the old wizard said as he tossed it one of its treats.

Unfurling the paper, the old man gave his tea a swirl then took a sip and began to see what the daily word was.

Glancing at only just the titles, his eyes nearly popped out and he almost had a heart attack on the spot, if only.

'The Biggest Scandal of the Century!'

'Boy-who-lived living in an abusive home!'

'Muggle animals a threat to our society!'

'A call to action!'

'Dumbledore, Azkaban or Not?'

Reading over the articles, his mouth just continued to drop open as he had no words at all to form. This was so out of his plan. He never imagined... no he never thought in his life this would get out.

'Minister Fudge calling for Dumbledore to come before Wizengamot when back in session!'

Closing the newspaper shut and tossing it to the side, he sat back in his chair. Now that the truth was out he would have to work overtime to put out the fires.

But how? How did this happen?

This really derailed so many plans, plans done for the Light.

Thoughts swirled in his mind as the headache built, there will be no denying the newspapers would have a field day with him. And the Dark houses would add more fuel to the fire.

He really wanted to wipe them all out, but everyone deserved a second chance. Even the most vile and blackest of hearts.

Plus the wizarding population was at an all-time low, as the latest population census had wizarding-kind population at 1 to 8 muggles- leaving the wizarding population at only 750,000,000. That was way down from the 1 to 5 ratio that had been maintained for centuries on end, not even mentioning further back such as the times of Atlantis where all humans have been Homo Magi.

[A/N: the population of the word in the late 1990s was a bit over 6 billion]

But with two massive wars back to back, a lot of old and new blood had died out.

Furthermore, the biggest problem yet that the wizarding world was facing- the weakening of the population as a whole magically. This was a secret only keep among the highest of circles and with countless research, it has shown that there have been countless reasons for this such as inbreeding, plus the old bloods refusing to mix their lines with the new generations of wizards and witches entering the world for the first time.

Thus all he could do was try to preserve the wizarding world the best he could for as long as he lived.

Just then as he was ruminating on these subjects a loud knock echoed from his door and he could hear the shouting of a very familiar voice.

Sighing, he waved his hand and the door to his office swung open and out stepped in Minerva McGonagall with her emerald green witch hat and robes. He could already feel the burning rage boiling off of her, and even Fawkes which a Master of Fire took a step back.

"Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, tell me that this isn't true?!" she shouted as she waved her copy of the newspaper in his face.

"Come down, Minerva," he said as he made calming gestures, not denying confirming it.

"DO. NOT. TELL. ME. TO. CALM. DOWN," she shouted in a barely contained voice as she more or less snarled it out. "I should have known something was going on when that woman," she spat out clearly talking about Rita, "came snooping around."

Stepping in, Professor Flitwick an eccentric short man with goblin blood in him and white hair streaking through his brown hair, squeaking out, "Albus what would Lily and James think about us leaving poor little Harry with... those beasts," he said as for the first time he showed an ounce of anger.

"If I knew the boy well then I would imagine he is making this all up to get some attention and gain some pity," a thin man with sallow skin, a large, hooked nose, and greasy black hair uttered with a sneer.

Before he could say anything else he had a wand pointed right underneath his hooked nose, "If you do not shut it Severus then I will personally do it for you," McGonagall said as all her rage was directed at him for the moment.

That seem to shut the greasy bat up as he had no words to say at all.

"Now, Minerva, let's put our wands away and have cooler heads prevail," the old man uttered trying to ease the situation.

Bringing her attention back at him, the wand was pointed at him this time and the witch hurled out, "I can't believe I trusted you with Harry's care. You were always negligentful, giving you the care of a child was a huge mistake on my part. Now is Harry still there with those animals? I will go and deal with them myself."

"Yes, and I shall come along with you," Flitwick nodded his head in agreement clearly ready to cause some pain.

"You do not have to worry yourself about," the old man said as he got up from his chair. "I will personally go check and Harry, and see to this issue myself."

Without a word, Fawkes flew up towards him, then grabbing him by his hat, they both disappeared in a firey vortex of flames.

"ALBUS!!!" the woman shouted as she tried to reach out to him but he was long gone, alongside his phoenix.

---------------------------------------------

Appearing outside of a nice quaint neighborhood, Dumbledore's face was a dark cloud. There was only one time he felt this way, when his baby sister Ariana was attacked by those savage muggle boys leaving her magically inert.

When he sent Harry to the Dursely's he knew their attitude towards magic, and that fit perfectly into his plan. All he wanted for the boy to grow up in an aloof house where he wouldn't have access to the magical word so that he wouldn't understand what he represented and become full of himself.

But the pure savagery that they committed against him, he knew he should have looked deeper into how malnourished he was when he came to Hogwarts and the scars that covered him.

Just reading those articles about all that they have done to him, making the boy their servant at just 4 years old, not even telling him his name until he went to muggle school, the beating and bullying he received.

It all made it near to impossible to quill his anger as the ground underneath him shook and tremored, the muggle lights began to go out in homes, trees started to shake and sway in the wind, dark clouds started to gather overhead, and lightning began to flash above.

Taking deep calming breaths, he put down his boiling rage and walked over to the familiar home. Knocking on the door, nobody answered, having no patience for this he waved his hand and the door opened.

Walking inside, he noticed how abandoned the place was. Nobody seem to be home.

Leaving the way he came in from, he spotted a muggle that was walking his dog. Coming up to the man he greeted, "Hello, do you know what happened to the occupants that lived here?"

Coming to a pause, the man asked, "Have you been living under a rock mate," then looking at his long robes and wizard hat, he muttered to himself, "maybe you have been thinking this is the middle ages."

Ignoring his comment, the old man asked, "Just humor me."

"Well I would have never imagined it, but those people had another kid living with them one that they said was a delinquent that had good for nothing parents that died in a car crash and they took him in from the kindness of their heart."

Doing a double-take at the clear lies, the old man just couldn't believe what he was hearing, lies about the Lily and James, lies about Harry, and even lies about why they took him in.

Somehow noticing his feeling, the dog walker said, "Yea, I know, and imagine what when we found out that it was all lies and they had the poor kid living there in abuse. Plus this kid wasn't just the son of deadbeats but Nobles! Could you imagine their gall to do that to a new and upcoming lord?

If only I had known," he said as he had a far off look of greed and avarice, "I would have rescued the boy."

Saying nothing about the nature of muggles, just then there was a loud pop and a wizard appeared out of nowhere.

"Blimey bloke, where did you come from?" the muggle asked in wide eyed wonderment.

Saying nothing the newcomer just cast a spell on the man and said to him, "carry on like nothing happened."

Nodding his head, the dog walker walked away. Looking over at the wizard, the old man asked, "Let me guess, you or whoever you work for had a part in all this."

"That is of none of your concern, Albus Dumbledore, Harry Potter is now a ward of the state. So he is out of your hands."

Staying silent for a long time, the old man finally spoke up in a quiet tone, "I will not be denied, where. is. Harry Potter?" as his eyes began to twinkle like bright stars in the sky.