CH81

"Goat felcher," she more calmly replied, stepping out from behind the marble shield. "Neville."

"Gran," he returned.

"Finally had enough, have you?" she asked.

With a huff of combined annoyance and sadness he returned, "You were right, Gran. Dumbledore's a manipulative old wanker; the Weasleys are... users; the others... they're Dumbledore sycophants."

Augusta nodded back. "I'm glad to see you're waking up to that. I feared I had completely lost you. What brought this on?" Getting a little frustrated, he replied, "Dumbledore's actions against Lord Peverell; both times he's met the man."

"I thought as much," she nodded.

"He... Lord Peverell, even with Dumbledore working to protect me and over half a dozen other Order members there, gave me a magical spanking, Gran," he explained. "He did it so easily... so effortlessly. And, if he can do that to me, what hope do I have against You-Know-Who?"

"As I told you, very little," she sniffed. "Yes; you are clearly a powerful wizard, Neville. However, the dark lord has decades of experience on his side and he has the depth and breadth of the dark arts he can draw upon. With Dumbledore's demand that none of his Order use anything but incapacitation magic against their opponents, the old man is firmly on the path of utter failure of his objectives.

You know this." Neville sighed again, walked over to one of the couches in the room and collapsed into it. "I really started to lose faith in the old man when he had us attack Lord Peverell the first time.

"However, when we attacked him the second time... that's when three important things occurred. The first was how easily Peverell spanked me. The second was Dumbledore clearly losing the battle. And the third was Dumbledore casting Fiendfyre, of all things, before apparating out and leaving the Fyre to run rampant. And he did that last just as a way to cover himself while he escaped. He also left the rest of the Order to fend for themselves."

"He's a coward," said Augusta.

When Neville turned a surprised look upon her, she explained, "Until now he's been the most powerful wizard on the battlefield. He's been utterly assured he will be victorious. This time, though, he's come up against someone who can obviously beat him. And, because of that, he has shown his true colours.

"I dare say his casting of Fiendfyre was because he panicked with fear and cast the first thing that came to his mind to cover himself to allow himself to withdraw. That it was dark magic he immediately turned to, so as to effect that withdrawal, shows the so-called Leader of the Light is not so Light, after all."

Sadly he said, "There was so much about both confrontations that do not gel with what Dumbledore supposedly believes, but does if you first accept that Dumbledore is completely wrong."

"Oh?" she asked; though she did not disbelieve her grandson, as she'd always thought contrary to the old man's mantra.

"Lord Peverell used only Light magic when he took us all down that first time. If anything, he only used simple stunners and shield breakers; though I've never seen anyone that fast before. Not even Professor Flitwick is that fast; and Professor Flitwick was the fastest I'd ever seen until then. He had us all, including Dumbledore and Mad-Eye, down within seconds... and there were twelve of us.

"He also warned all the people who were standing around and watching that he was about to step off the bottom steps of Gringotts; and that they should seek cover, as he knew Dumbledore would have us attack him as soon as he did.

"He didn't have to do that. He did it because he didn't want to see anyone hurt. That's what a Light wizard would do; not a Dark wizard."

"Exactly," his grandmother firmly replied.

"Then, there was the second time... there were less of us," he continued. "And that time he only cast at me prank hexes. It wasn't hard, in hindsight, to see he was giving me a lesson. And that lesson was, I will have no chance if I ever properly come up against You-Know-Who."

"I know," she said.

"Then, from figuring that out, I'm left with a... belief. And that belief is based on certain factors Dumbledore seems hell-bent on no one finding out."

"Oh?" she asked.

Looking his grandmother in the eye he asked, "Lord Peverell is approximately the same age as I am. What I want to know... and what Dumbledore seems determined no one finds out... is when is the Lord Peverell's birthday? Can his birthday be seen as 'when the seventh month dies'? Did his parents 'thrice defy' the dark lord?"

Surprised, Augusta said, "That's three very good questions. You believe, if the Peverell Lord was born 'as the seventh month dies' and his parents did indeed defy him three times, he's the true Chosen One."

"Yes," he firmly replied. "We know he didn't attend Hogwarts. Therefore, as You-Know-Who attended, I haven't truly learned of 'the power he knows not' from the school. However, as Peverell didn't attend Hogwarts, then it is more likely he haslearned the power 'He-Who' hasn't, rather than me.

"The more I think about it... analyse it... the more I'm coming to believe Lord Peverell is the Chosen One. If we can discover his correct date of birth, even if we cannot learn if his parents defied the dark lord three times, then I think that will go a long ways towards confirming that Lord Hardwin Peverell is the real Chosen One."

His grandmother nodded back with pride in her eyes. "Well reasoned," she stated. "And, I think I know how we can learn that." Curious and not a little hopeful, he asked, "How?"

"I need to talk to my old friend, Amelia," she replied. "As Lord Peverell is a Lord, especially one we now know is also the new Lord Potter, then it behooves her to meet with him to... discuss matters."

After recovering enough from the loss and reattachment of his arm he could be released from the Hogwarts infirmary, Dumbledore was quick to demand his house arrest be widened to allow him, as he put it, to attend to his duties as Headmaster.

After much grumbling on her part, Director Connie Hammer of the DMLE had to allow it. Dumbledore had managed to get the word out that he was unable to protect the students while locked within the infirmary and needed the run of the school to properly protect them. The parents on the Wizengamot and the School Board then put pressure on her to allow it. However, that same pressure was also showing her she'd not get the numbers to convict the old man for his casting of Fiendfyre in Diagon Alley. So, while she gave every indication she'd still be taking the matter before the Wizengamot, she knew it was pointless. Therefore, the matter would be quietly 'shelved' until after You-Know-Who's final defeat - then Dumbledore would face all those charges in consecutive trials before the Wizengamot until such time the Wizengamot had no choice, but to convict the old bastard.

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