Harry, feeling slightly nervous, wondering what on earth he had done this time. He also wondered why he had to be punished for whatever it was during the night. He walked a little quicker to keep up with McGonagall.
“Professor?” he asked, quietly.
“Quiet, please Potter,” she said shortly, and Harry fell silent. They reached the stone Gargoyles. Harry expected them to make some stupid joke and call him ‘Sonny Jim,’ but they didn’t. They said nothing, looking from McGonagall to Harry and then back again. “Chocolate Frog,” McGonagall said, and the door to Dumbledore’s office opened. Harry stepped onto the steps, and so did the Professor. When they reached the top, McGonagall ushered Harry in. Dumbledore was sitting at his desk with his head in his hands. It hit Harry very hard as he saw this. Dumbledore couldn’t show signs of weakness, he was the strong one, as long as Dumbledore was there, everything would be alright, as long as Dumbledore was calm, there was nothing to be afraid of.
“Professor? You wanted to see me?” Harry said, then he heard a thump and saw that Mcgonagall had left them alone.
“Please sit down, Harry,” Dumbledore said warily. Harry did so. “How is school so far? Happy with your classes? Your teachers?” Harry nodded, waiting for Dumbledore to say what was on his mind. Fawkes fluttered over, and landed heavily on Harry’s knee.
“Hullo, Fawkes,” Harry murmered, petting his feathers. The bird nestled against his hand.
“Harry, you understand that I would never want to put you in danger,” Dumbledore said. Harry nodded.
“I know that Professor,” he said.
“And I would do everything in my power to make sure you were unharmed, but sometimes…sometimes there is no other choice.”
“What are you trying to say, Professor?” Harry asked concernedly. Dumbledore looked into Harry’s eyes, and Harry saw that Dumbledore was crying.
“It needs to be done, and…you must be the one,” he said, standing up and moving over to Harry. “I need to ask a rather large favor of you, Harry.”
“Anything, Professor.”
“Yes…well. As you know, the war could break out at any moment. There is no doubting that. We need more allies. That’s the long and short of it. There is a specific ally that I wish to gain, Harry. They would help us greatly, and we would have a definite advantage over Lord Voldemort. The ally’s I speak of Harry, are the Centaurs. They are very stubborn creatures, but incredibly smart, and amazing at strategy. I would go down by myself, but they don’t seem too fond of adults. Now, you are no little boy, Harry, but you are not quite as old as I either. But with you, Harry I know they will not harm you. They know that if you are killed, the Dark Lord will most certainly rule this wizarding world. Centaurs would not risk that. Therefore, you may have a chance at bargaining with them. I will go down with you, I do not force you Harry, but I plead with you. This may be our only hope.”
“Yes,” Harry said simply. “Anything for The Order.” Dumbledore grinned, but then he stopped.
“Harry, I must warn you. Voldemort knows what great ally’s the Centaurs would be. He may try to…hinder us. I want you to know, if anything happens, no matter what, you run to the castle.”
“Alright,” Harry said.
“Harry, you are like a son to me. When I saw you as a child, sleeping on the Dursley’s doorstep, I left with guilt in my chest, but knew that it was the only way you would be able to stay alive. When you first came to Hogwarts, I was amazed at your growth as a boy. Now I am amazed at your growth as a man. You are without a doubt, the greatest wizard of our time, Harry. Your mother and father would be proud,” then Dumbledore did something he had never done before. He hugged Harry.
“I never had any children, until you came to Hogwarts. You give me hope for our world,” he laughed a rather teary laugh. “If you remember nothing of this conversation in the future, remember that I love you Harry. Remember that your parents love you. Remember that your friends love you, and remember that the love you carry is what gives you power. It is the greatest of magic, and Voldemort does not have it. When you are on your last breath, ready to give up, ready to cry to the world your defeat, remember those who you fight for. Recall themwith your last heartbeat, visit them with your last memory, see them in your last tear,” Dumbledore stopped, shaking his head sadly.
“Come Harry, it is time.”
They walked down the hillside towards the Forbidden Forest. Harry nearly in tears. Why was Dumbledore acting as though they would never see each other again? Did he know something Harry didn’t?
“Lumos,” Harry and Dumbledore said together. As Harry’s light shone on Dumbledore’s face, Harry saw years running down his face. Harry’s heart beat faster. What was going on?
It seemed they had walked for hours, and Harry’s feet were very sore. He kept on alert though. The whole time, Harry and Dumbledore didn’t say anything to each other. They listened intently for anything, for a Centaur. Finally, Dumbledore stopped, apparently hearing something. Harry listened too.
“Remember Harry, whatever happens, if there is any danger, run straight back to the castle and inform Professor McGonagall,” Dumbledore said.
“Do you expect Voldemort to come down here?” Harry asked. Dumbldore’s eyes bored into his.
“Not directly, no,” Dumbledore said. They Harry heard something. A rustling of leaves…a Centaur. Dumbledore shot Harry a warning look, telling him not to move and be quiet. Harry obeyed, looking around for the source of the leave rustling. It was too dark to see anything, even with their wands lit. Then the leave rustling started coming from all directions. Not just one side. They were surrounded by rustling leaves. It was getting louder, and Harry’s heart was beating loudly in his ears. He took deep breaths to calm himself. Then, quite suddenly, the noisse stopped. Not just slowly calming down, but a dead stop, quick and sudden, as if all the noise in the world had been put on mute. Harry looked around. He could tell that he was surrounded by a crowd of creatures, whether or not they were Centaurs, Harry didn’t know. He could feel them though, their presence was almost tangible.
“What brings you to our woods, Albus?” said a rich, baritone voice to Harry’s right. He turned to see a magnificent half-horse, half-man standing before them. Dumbledore smiled politely.
“Well, sadly I wish to talk business,” Dumbledore said, inclining his head.
“And you have the Potter boy with you?” the Centaur asked. Dumbledore nodded, and then looked pointedly at Harry, who cleared his throat, remembering that he was supposed to be asked the question.
“Hello,” Harry said, trying to smile. The Centaur glared. “Well, I won’t bother with telling you about our situation with Lord Voldemort,” Harry said, half expecting the beast to wince. He did not, however, so Harry continued, “as I’m sure you’ve read about it in the stars.” The centaur nodded.
“You know of our interest in the heavens?” he asked, rather surprised.
“I’ve met with several of your clan before,” Harry said nodding, and deciding not to mention that he was friends with Firenze, the ‘traitor’ of their clan. “Look, I know you aren’t exactly sympathetic to humans. I understand that. We can be selfish, predjudiced pig sometimes, especially to you. You think we are all Bigots. That’s not true with all humans, but I know you believe it is. Why help the humans, then? Don’t. Don’t do a damn thing for us,” Harry said, feeling very nervous, but trying not to show it. Several Centuars stepped out of the shadows.
“If you don’t want us to help you with Lord Voldemort, what did you come for?” one of them asked.
“Because, I don’t want you to fight Voldemort for us. I want you to fight Voldemort for you. If you think humans are disgusting, slaughtering, racist pigs, put a million of those together, along with a really bad hair-do, and that’s Lord Voldemort. He will not get rid of the Half-bloods and leave you to your forest. He will come down here, and whether the stars warn you about it or not, it will happen if Voldemort isn’t beaten. Fight for youselves, fight for your stars, fight for your forest, fight for whever you want! Hell, fight for the House-Elves! I don’t give a damn what you fight for, as long as you fight. Whatever you cherish, family, food…life! It will be ripped from you if you don’t do something about it,” Harry was yelling when he got finished. He didn’t dare look at Dumbledore. It was very silent. Wonderful, he had ruined it. He had ruined their chances.
“He’s right,” one Centaur said, coming towards him. “If we don’t help them, they could lose the war. If that happens, Voldemort will not be merciful to us. Would we rather die than fight by the side of a human? Would we rather our families die? Would we rather our race turn to those of the Giants? Reduced to hiding in caves?” There was a loud murmer of agreement. The one who had addressed them first looked at Dumbledore.
“You are very wise, to bring him, Albus. It was quite a risk. I know that you are not like other humans. The Potter boy was a nice touch. He reminded me very much of you when you were young. But I see has a lot of James in him."
“You knew my dad?” Harry exploded. The Centuar smiled.
“He used to sneak in here all the time, I used to watch him and his friends horsing around(Ain't I punny?). Quite the trouble makers,” he replied. “Very well, Mr. Potter. We will fight Voldemort, when the…” but the Centuar froze, and so did all the other Centaurs. Harry frowned, and looked at Dumbledore, who looked afraid. Then without warning, the Centaurs leapt and bounded out of sight, into the shadows.
“What is it?” Harry said, straining his ears, and hearing nothing. “Do they hear something?” But Dumbledore looked at the sky. Harry followed his gaze, and his heart dropped to his feet. Through the thick mass of branched, the sky was no longer black. It was a color much darker than black. It was so dark his eyes burned to look at it. “What's wrong with the sky?!” Harry yelled. Dumbledore looked at Harry, his face more terrified than Harry had ever seen it. His eyes seemed to lose all color.
“Harry. Run. Now.” He choked out. Harry didn’t know what to do, he started walking, but all light was gone. All the light in the world was gone! He looked upwards, or at least he thought it was upwards. He had no sense of direction. He couldn’t see! All around him was black, the only way he knew up was up was because the sky was darker than anything. Then he noticed something. The sky seemed to be rippling, slow, gently ripples. Then the sky started to move down upon them. The was falling! It got closer and closer. Harry didn’t realize how cold he was. No….no…it couldn’t be. There was screaming. His ears began to pound.
“DUMBLEDORE!” he yelled, but he couldn’t hear himself. He dropped to his knees.
Dementors, the sky was made of Dementors. He was sobbing. It was as iff all the Dementors in the world had come to attack them. He couldn’t see anything. He felt something touch his face, almost carresingly. It was a hand. A cold, clammy, rotted hand. Then there was another hand, picking him up off the ground. It was a skeleton hand, peices of flesh still clinging to it.
“NOOOOOO!” a cry split through the night. Harry didn’t know if he or Dumbledore had made that sound, he didn’t care, he needed to die.
“LEAVE HIM! LEAVE HIM AND TAKE ME! ITS ME YOU WANT! TAKE ME!” yelled a pained voice, and Harry saw Dumbledore, his arms spread wide, almost glowing, screaming at the top of his lungs. No! Harry was dropped on the ground. He looked up to see at least a hundred Dementors drop out of the sky onto Dumbledore. The rustling of leaves surrounded Harry, he lay his head on the ground and heard a life-saving sound. Hooves. The Centaurs had come to help them! Harry could see better now! He looked around desparately.
“Dumbledore!” he cried. Then he saw the enormous mass of Dementors huddled together tightly. No. No, please God, don’t let them have Dumbledore. Harry squinted, getting up and running closer, as he ran by, he felt cold, skeleton hands sliding over his shoulders, almost caressing him. He stopped then, his heart stopped beating it seemed.
There are too many. Hundreds of them swarmed around, and Harry knew the only reason he wasn’t dead was because of Dumbledore and the Centaurs. Harry whipped out his wand.
“Expecto Patronum!” he attempted, but even his Patronus wasn’t good enough to kill a thousand Dementors. “GET AWAY FROM HIM!” Harry yelled, not know what he could do. He reached the mass of Dementors, and tried again. “EXPECTO PATRONUM!!” He yelled with all of his might. He was sobbing, the screaming was getting so loud. So unbearable, but he had to save Dumbledore. More and more piled on top of him, in the obvious struggle to kiss him. “NOOOOOOOO!” Harry screamed, leaping into the pile of Dementors. Then, through the screaming and pain and tears, he heard something. Not the rattling breath of the Dementors. Not the whinny’s of Centaurs. But a beautiful song. He stopped struggling as a large, bright red Pheonix swooped down out of the trees. The Dementor’s hissed at the sound of the soung. It was like flutes, and harps and pianos and a thousand other instruments strung together to make one beautiful, heart wreching sound. Slowly, the Dementors moved away from Dumbledore. Harry still couldn’t see him. “GET OUT! GET OUT!” Harry sobbed, dropping on the ground. Then he saw a glimpse of blue. Dumbledores robes! Surely he was alright. I mean, this was Dumbledore; nothing could ever happen to Dumbledore. But soon, no Dementors blocked his view, and he could see…not Dumbledore, but some other creature wearing his robes.
His twinkling blue eyes were now completely black, his skin stretched tighly over his eye sockets. His teeth were gone, and his long, healthy white beard was scraggly and black like a very dirty wire brush. His nose was shrunken and snake-like. His robes hung loosely off of his skeletal body. He was not Dumbledore. He was not even human. He was a corpse.
“Dumbledore,” Harry said. “Wake up, they’re gone now. It ok, you can wake up.” Harry moved closer to him, then backed up. Fawkes flew up to him, and landed on the ground next to Dumbledore. “Wake him up Fawkes,” Harry said. Fawkes didn’t move. “WAKE HIM UP!” Harry yelled. The phoenix stared, and then a tear started to fall down his cheek. “No, don’t cry! He’s not dead! HE”S NOT DEAD!” Harry yelled. He stood up and tried to kick the bird, but Fawkes flew away, his tears dripping in the night air. Harry looked at Dumbledore’s face again, and did the only thing he could. He walked over to the bushes and vomited. He vomited over and over again, until finally, he realized something:
Dumbledore was dead. He began sobbing through his vomiting, and his entire body began to shake. “No,” he sobbed. “Dumbledore, please wake up. Please wake up. Please…” he begged and begged, for hours he begged, sitting by the corpse. The world was over. It was as simple as that. There was nothing they could do now. Sure, they had ally’s. But they didn’t have Dumbledore. They didn’t have Dumbledore…
“You knew, didn’t you,” Harry said to the corpse many hours later, wringing his hands, his tears all used up, his eyes dried up. “You knew you were going to die. That’s why you told me all that stuff earlier. Because YOU WERE GOING TO DIE!” he yelled.
About eight hours later, Harry walked into Hogwarts. He was dimly aware of the fact that Hogwarts was completely empty except perhaps McGonagall. He didn’t care. He walked calmly into Professor McGonagall’s office. As soon as she saw him, she jumped up, and upon seeing his face, thought that one of the Dementors had gotten him. His face was as emotionless as if he were a corpse and not Dumbledore.
“Potter! What happened?! Are you alright? Where’s Dumbledore,” she said, looking at his face, and checking for serious injuries. “Potter? Harry?” But Harry didn’t respond. He sat down on the floor, right where he was standing. “Where is Dumbledore?!” Harry looked up at her, his eyes empty. Their bright green color seemed to be almost gone.
“Dead.”