A Queen Will Rise

Chapter forty- Troubles of Dumbledore

Albus was feeling older than he had ever felt before. Everything around him was going wrong and he couldn't remember the last time he felt this way, even dealing with Tom in his younger more troublesome days didn't age him this much. He offered to protect the philosophers stone at Hogwarts as he was sure that it was the safest place in the world for such a precious artifact. Perhaps he should have listened to the worries of his old friend before he requested its removal from Gringotts. He looked at the fake stone again and realised it must have been the work of Voldemort. No one else could have gotten through the wards without leaving a single trace. Yet here Albus was faced with one of his biggest worries. What would Voldemort do now he had the stone?

Nothing was going according to the plans of the old man, he knew that voldemort would be tempted by the stone but Albus had no idea how he managed to get into the school, let alone steal the stone. He was also surprised by young Calliope, he knew she was nothing like he originally expected but he thought that maybe once she started school and found individuals like herself then more qualities of James and Lily would make themselves known. Nothing of the sort happened.

He even prepared himself for some kind of attack on Calliopes person from Voldemort himself, yet the school year came and went without a hair on her head being harmed. Of course he didn't want Calliope to be harmed but it was something he was preparing himself for given that Voldemort had tried to end her life once before.

Another thing that shocked him wasn't the fact that Calliope was sorted into Slytherin, no he expected that after his initial meeting with her at the orphanage. What he hadnt expected was the things the girl had done inside of slytherin.

He assumed that because of the majority of death eater children within the house that she would be completely isolated. Of course at first she didnt really acknowledge anyone aside from Theodore Nott. This came as a surprise to Albus due to the fact that the parents and grandparents of Mr Nott had openly supported the Dark Lord of previous years. His grandfather was never marked of course but he seemed close with Tom when they attended school together. A few weeks after this revelation, Emerys Carrow was seen with the two first years. Severus was almost certain that young Callie had sent Mr Carrow to the infirmary with broken bones and nasty cuts but nothing was proven as all slytherins seem to agree that no one will rat out another house member even if the house member is disliked.

It was this friendship that really made Albus think. He knew that Carrow was a believer in the pureblood ideals and he knew that young Callie despised muggles so he began to wonder what path would the young witch choose to walk down. However, it was after christmas where Albus began to truly worry. He knew what a court was, he'd seen the same things when Tom had sat at the table many years before. 

He thought he'd be seeing attacks on other students from slytherins and he thought hed be hearing all about how purebloods are better and how muggles/muggleborns didnt deserve to live but nothing like this happened. In fact it appeared that slytherin house had been subdued. They seemed to present a united front to the rest of the school, including in the way they showed their smarts. The grades of slytherin house as a whole appeared to be on the rise which was a vast difference from before. Most of the previous slytherins chose not to apply themselves since they knew their blood would get them further than their brains but it all seemed to change. It was as if they were trying to prove themselves but for what Albus didnt know. 

He was sure that Calliope was the reason behind all these changes but he had no idea what the end objectives were. Usually he'd think it completely ridiculous for a child to have long-term objectives but he was certain that Calliope had objectives and he really wanted to find out what they were. Hopefully they would make themselves clear as time goes on.

Trying to clear his mind, he shook his head just in time to see an owl fly through the window with a copy of the Daily Prophet. It appeared he was lost in thought for longer than he thought if the paper was being delivered already. He realised that most of the staff would be almost finished with their breakfasts if they weren't finished already. He pondered on the idea that it would be best to have a meal delivered to his office but all thoughts of food had left his mind when he saw the headline of the newspaper.

He read the interview with startling clarity and it seemed he was attempting to absorb every word that was written. This was definitely something he hadn't seen coming, i mean why would anyone think that a child would turn to the publication that printed so much about her without even bothering to speak to her themselves first. Granted, Dumbledore had made a few comments to people here and there about the young Potter but he never went to a journalist himself so he could deny ever being involved with such stories.

His attention was taken away from the Prophet when his office wards signaled that someone was coming. He would bet all of his savings that it was Severus who was approaching his office.

A few seconds later, a knock sounded through the office but before he could verbally allow them entry the door swung open and in strolled Severus Snape, although to anyone else it would appear that the potions master had simply stormed his way into the headmasters office. Snape was clutching a copy of the prophet and Albus didnt need to have any properties of the sight to know what Snape wanted to discuss.