Of course 'Arry," Mr. Delacour replied and then turned his eyes onto Dumbledore. "Ze truth is a wonderful thing 'eadmaster, is it not? It is obvious zat 'Arry knows many things you are keeping secret. I would recommend now would be a good time to...eh...come clean." He turned back to Harry. "If ze 'eadmaster is reluctant to give you ze answers you seek, you are not required to stay 'ere you know? I am sure zat Madam Maxime would find a spot at Beauxbatons for you and Miss Granger."
"Beauxbatons? But I don't know French sir," Harry replied.
"Oui, zat is true," Alain replied. "But we can get you two a private tutor for your classes until your language skills are acceptable. I'm sure my daughters will be glad to 'elp."
Albus had paled as he sat in his seat. The thought of Harry Potter leaving Hogwarts wasn't something he wanted to contemplate especially after last night. With the stories that were in the Prophet this morning, Harry's name would once again be on the lips of every witch and wizard in the country. In the coming war against Voldemort, Dumbledore knew what the country must have above all else is hope. That is something Harry could provide. If he were to leave the country, it would be seen as him fleeing and the country would quickly lose all hope and fall to Voldemort without much of a struggle. Dumbledore knew he couldn't say that though. Harry never wanted to be anything but normal. Finally he spoke. "It would be extremely dangerous for Beauxbatons to take on Mr. Potter during these times with Voldemort having returned. It would place the entire school in jeopardy."
"Are you suggesting zat 'Ogwarts is safer zan Beauxbatons?" Alain queried Dumbledore.
"This school is quite safe Alain; that I can assure you," Dumbledore replied. "Definitely safer for Harry to remain here; especially from Voldemort."
"Safer?" Alain asked incredulously. "Voldemort 'imself was in ze castle for a whole school year zree years ago 'Eadmaster. You 'ad a Death Eater working in disguise of someone you called a friend zis whole year without you discovering 'im until it was too late. You even put ze man in charge of ze security of ze school. Shall we mention Basilisks and Dementors?" Alain Delacour voice was cool but struck home at each point he was trying to make. "In zose same years at Beauxbaton, zere 'asn't been a single threat."
"Alain I assure you..."
But Mr. Delacour wasn't going to let Dumbledore regain ground as he started again. "Assure me of what? Zat zose things were not under your control? You 'ad no way to know about zem?" His eyes focused on the venerable Headmaster. "Yet zis young man and 'is friends were able to deal with zese issues year after year," He paused for a couple of seconds before continuing. "You know what I believe is ze problem? You try to do too much Albus. You are 'eadmaster of this very prestigious school. Zat job in itself should be a full-time job, but you are also Chief Warlock of ze Wizengamot; another job zat takes a significant amount of time to be done properly and finally you are also Supreme Mugwump of ze International Confederation of Wizards. Zree jobs zat all should be full time positions yet you do zem all."
"I do what I must Alain. I do what needs to be done," Dumbledore replied wearily. "Is there anyone who can do the jobs better?"
"For any one of ze jobs Albus, you are clearly ze better man," Mr. Delacour agreed. "But when you spread yourself zat much, all of ze jobs suffer in performance," He looked around the room at all the eyes who had been following the conversation between the two of them. "We should get back to ze conversation we originally came 'ear for. If you think it is safer for 'Arry to be 'ere, zen you need to tell us why and be completely 'onest in all zat you know."
Dumbledore felt very tired. All one hundred plus years of his life seemed to catch up with him all at once. He studied Alain Delacour and then turned his gaze upon Harry and finally every other person in the room. There was not a single sympathetic look in the office. Finally he nodded in recognizing defeat as he said "Very well. You shall have the truth. Though first I must ask again, if not beg, that Harry must not ever take that potion again. It would be incredibly dangerous if Voldemort found out this information through the link they share."
"I have no plans for doing it again," Harry replied. "But again I want you to tell everyone in this room what you think that link actually is."
Dumbledore again hesitated. Giving up the secrets he had kept for so long didn't come easy.
Harry noticed the hesitation and wish he truly knew if what he had witnessed the night before did happen. A plan came to mind and he quickly said to his bondmates. "I'm going to find out now if it was a dream or really happened. It will make it easier to get all the information from Dumbledore."
"Sir," He said. 'Let's start with an easier question; tell me about my parents' wills."
"Why do you ask?" Dumbledore asked only slightly relieved from getting a small reprieve.
"Something that came up in a discussion," Harry replied honestly. "I never heard anything about them so I thought you might know."
Albus looked over at Remus presuming that was the source of the information and only saw surprise on his face. He turned back to Harry. "Very well. There is a reason you haven't been told about them," He said. "The wills your mother and father filed at the Ministry had problems."
"I'm curious if I happen to know what kind of problems they might have," Harry said before he turned to Remus. "Did you bring the map with you?"
"Yes. I had planned on giving it back to you afterwards. Why?"
"Give it to Professor Dumbledore but do not activate it," Harry instructed him.
Moony shrugged and pulled out the parchment and handed it over to the Headmaster.
"Sir, by any chance do their wills do what this parchment does?" Harry asked.
"What do you mean?"
"Try to get it to reveal something?" Harry suggested as he took a deep breath and waited.
....
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