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'because saving the people you love isn't stupid.
it isn't even a choice.'
-kami garcia
><><
It had been a lovely, quiet evening in his office. His lamps emitted a warm glow, and, despite the late hour, he was still wide awake, intently reading at his desk as soft snores resounded from the portraits of past Hogwarts headmasters. Cup of tea laying cold and forgotten, he himself almost nodded off, though his attention was suddenly brought to heavy steps coming up the staircase leading to his office. Before he could ponder on who could possibly be coming to see him at—he checked his grandfather clock—11:30pm, the doors of his office burst open, and the annoyed protests from the portraits now wide awake and Fawkes' squawking were drowned out by Harry's voice.
"I get the no-magic thing—she's weak enough without using so much energy, blah, blah, blah, but no visitors? Are you insane?"
"Is this about Adeline?" Dumbledore motioned for Harry to sit down, but he refused.
"Of course it's about Addie! I—"
"Well, what would you like to know?" His calm tone was nothing but infuriating to Harry.
"Well, I don't know, how about why Adeline isn't allowed to leave the hospital wing, or why she can't have visitors, or why you even made me promise not to tell her that she's dying because now she hates me for keeping it from her and—"
Dumbledore's tone became sharp, cutting short his rambling.
"She knows?"
Harry's voice softened, and he stuttered.
"I--I...yeah. She overheard me a few weeks ago. I didn't mean to—"
"Overheard?"
Harry swallowed. "I told Ron, Hermione and Ginny. I can't keep this from them—"
Dumbledore closed his eyes for a moment, sighing, rubbing his forehead. In the silence, Harry bit the inside of his cheek, and played with a loose thread on his robe before the headmaster met his eyes, gesticulating as he spoke.
"Harry—this is important. Does anyone else know?
"No, no." He insisted, though Dumbledore didn't appear convinced. "No one else was in the hospital wing."
The Headmaster looked down at his entwined hands on the desk before him, and he waited a moment before speaking again.
"It is all for her safety, Harry," He looked up at the boy standing before him. "You have to understand that. It is why she is so limited in her actions. She's fragile, and, in the wrong hands, a danger to every living being."
