The Hidden Burden

Harry bolted out of his chair with reflexes that spoke of his seeker abilities, placing himself directly between Fleur and Dumbledore and was reaching for his own wand. A second later he relaxed as he heard the familiar clicks as the door to the office was being locked. Once he saw the Headmaster put the wand back on his desk, he returned to his seat.

Fleur had been startled as the Headmaster had lifted his wand and had made no effort to defend herself. She looked over at her bond mate as she realized he had instinctively defended her by putting himself between the Headmaster and her. She couldn't help but feel happy at the thought.

Dumbledore's eyes had lost their weariness as he focused on the group of youngsters in front of him with a gaze that was almost cold from his now ice blue eyes. "Where did you hear that word?" He asked curtly. All pleasantries had left his voice. He then remembered the Chamber and he looked at Hermione. "I presume you were the one? You needed to know?"

Near panic was coursing through Hermione as the Headmaster stern gaze was locked on her. "What do we do?"

"We've done nothing wrong sister," Fleur said to Hermione and then to Dumbledore. "Sir, you 'ave no right to take zat tone with 'Ermione. We researched a term zat we 'eard. We are students zat is what we are supposed to do."

Dumbledore's eyes turned to Fleur, all grandfatherly twinkles missing from his blue eyes. "Who else knows about this? Have you told anyone else?"

Fleur held the gaze of the Headmaster. "Why do you need to know sir?" She asked and then was out of her chair in an instant. "And if zat is legilimency I sense, you better 'ave a good reason, or my next destination is Madam Maxime and an owl or floo call to my father."

Two sets of blue eyes were locked on each other; Dumbledore's against Fleur's. Harry had to admire his older bond mate. She wasn't afraid of the Headmaster. He thought it must be because she had so much experience dealing with high ranking government people her father worked with.

To Harry's surprise Dumbledore caved first. The Headmaster finally leaned back in his chair again. "My apologies Miss Delacour. Please sit back down. I had no right to do what I did, but your mind is very much closed to my attempts anyway as are all of you. The protection provided by your bond makes Legilimency impossible, at least passively. It was instinctive on my part to do it and again I apologize," Dumbledore's face returned to the look of weariness it had had before. Then he let out a sigh before continuing. "That is a term I've been trying to research for some time now while at the same time remove as much knowledge of them as possible. Understand my concern when four," his eyes flicked over to Remus as he realized he didn't look surprised, "or five people now know about them."

Harry put his hand on Fleur's arm. "It's alright. Sit down please my flower."

"E's still 'iding something," Fleur thought but sat back down and gave Harry a small smile.

"Sir," Harry said to the Headmaster, "We've discussed it only in the Chamber or over our bond. We four, Remus and Sirius are the only ones who know what we know," He decided that Mr. Delacour wasn't about to mention it to anyone and the Headmaster didn't need to know about him anyway.

Dumbledore gazed at the four young people in front of him. They had unraveled a secret that he had tried to bury from the world. He wondered how they knew what they knew. "Did I miss a book in Slytherin's library?" He wondered. He continued to look at them. They all looked so very young, and for them to have that knowledge put them in extreme danger. His mind raced over several possibilities of what to do. "If I dismiss them outright, they will continue to research it I am sure," He momentarily looked at his wand, "I'm not sure what an oblivation spell would do with their bond. It might not work at all or cause issues I'm not aware of," As he looked up he saw Remus's eyes locked on him as if he knew what he was thinking. "And if it failed or if they found out, I would lose all of Harry's trust and never get it back," Dumbledore realized he had very few options at the moment. He brought his fingers up and put them together as he continued to think of the possibilities.

"He's not eleven anymore," That's what Lupin had said while sitting in the same chair he sat in now. "No he's not," Dumbledore's gaze wandered to the young man before continuing his contemplations, "But he isn't ready for the prophecy. That's too much of a burden. Next year or the next will be better, when he's better prepared mentally for it," Finally Dumbledore realized his best course of action was honesty but not necessarily the whole truth. His gazed moved from person to person before he continued. "Please make sure you do not tell anyone else. As I said, I've been trying to remove as much knowledge of Horcruxes as I can."

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