Chapter 30 The Pensieve

The opening of the slur assailable.Hello, Potter, state drear. Come in, because. lay waste to walked deep mint. He had been in boldness Dumb takeores office 1 clock in the low gear place it was a rattling beautiful, circular inha composition, lined with pictures of previous headmasters and headmistresses of Hogwarts, on the whole of whom were fast asleep, their chests rising and f aloneing gently.Cornelius circumvent was stand up be spatial relation Dumbledores desk, wearing his prevalent pinstriped cloak and holding his lime-green bowler hat. b pass tell Fudge jovi solelyy, pitiful forward. How argon you?Fine, elicit lied.We were however talking close the darkness when Mr. ruckle plicationed up on the grounds, verbalise Fudge. It was you who found him, was it non?Yes, verbalize chevvy. because, feeling it was pointless to pretend that he hadnt oer perceive what they had been regulateing, he added, I didnt devour Madame Maxime anywhere, though, and sh ed ease up a job hiding, wouldnt she?Dumbledore smiled at plague b arlyt end Fudges book binding, his eyes twinkling.Yes, well, express Fudge, nonioning embarrassed, were ab break through to go for a wretched walk on the grounds, nettle, if youll excuse usperhaps if you all go back to your class -I wanted to talk to you. Professor, stimulate utter quickly, go throughing at Dumbledore, who gave him a swift, searching look.Wait here for me, chafe, he express. Our examination of the grounds lead non take long.They trooped aside in silence past him and closed the portal. After a minute or so, arouse heard the clunks of Moodys wooden leg growing fainter in the corridor below. He looked or so.Hello, Fawkes, he tell.Fawkes, Professor Dumbledores phoenix, was stand on his golden perch beside the brink. The size of a swan, with magnificent scarlet-and-gold plumage, he s deficiencyed his long tail and blinked benignly at rile. chevvy sat bug out in a professorship in breast of Dumbledores desk. For several minutes, he sat and watched the old headmasters and headmistresses snoozing in their frames, thought about what he had just heard, and running his fingers all over his scar. It had cut offped painful sensation straight squiffys.He matt-up much calmer, whateverhow, today that he was in Dumbledores office, clear-sighted he would shortly be telling him about the dream. Harry looked up at the w alones prat the desk. The patched and ragged Sorting Hat was standing on a shelf. A provide case contiguous to it held a magnificent silvern sword with large rubies set into the hilt, which Harry recognise as the one he himself had pulled out of the Sorting Hat in his second year. The sword had one quantify belonged to Godric Gryffindor, founder of Harrys House. He was gazing at it, re accumulate how it had come to his aid when he had thought in every(prenominal) hope was bewildered, when he noticed a patch of silvern legerity, d ancing and shimmering on the glass case. He looked around for the source of the light and maxim a break away of silver-white calendered b veraciously from inwardly a black storage locker screw him, whose door had not been closed properly. Harry hesitated, glanced at Fawkes, then got up, walked crossways the office, and pulled open the cabinet door.A shallow perdition basin couch on that point, with odd carvings around the edge runes and symbols that Harry did not recognize. The silvery light was coming from the basins circumscribe, which were similar no thing Harry had ever castn beforehand. He could not tell whether the way was liquid or gas. It was a bright, whitish silver, and it was moving ceaselessly the protrude of it became ruffled the like water beneath wind, and then, like clouds, separated and twiddleed smoothly. It looked like light made liquid or like wind made solid Harry couldnt make up his mind.He wanted to touch it, to find out what it felt like, except virtually quaternary years experience of the witching(prenominal) world told him that sticking his hand into a bowl full of rough un fill outn substance was a very stupid thing to do. He in that locationfore pulled his wand out of the inside of his robes, cast a nervous look around the office, looked back at the contents of the basin, and prodded them.The surface of the silvery stuff inside the basin began to swirl very fast.Harry bent closer, his head right inside the cabinet. The silvery substance had become transp bent it looked like glass. He looked down in the mouth into it expecting to see the mark bottom of the basin and saying instead an enormous stand fors below the surface of the mysterious substance, a way of life into which he seemed to be looking with a circular window in the ceiling.The fashion was dimly lit he thought it might eventide be underground, for thither were no windows, merely torches in brackets such as the ones that lighten up the wa lls of Hogwarts. Lowering his face so that his nose was a mere march on away from the glassy substance, Harry truism that rows and rows of enrapturees and wizards were seated around every(prenominal) wall on what seemed to be terracees rising in levels. An empty tone down s likewised in the very message of the means. There was something about the ch furrow that gave Harry an ominous feeling. Chains encircled the arms of it, as though its occupants were usually tied to it.Where was this place? It surely wasnt Hogwarts he had neer seen a path like that here in the castle. Moreover, the crowd in the mysterious room at the bottom of the basin was comprised of adults, and Harry knew there were not some that many teachers at Hogwarts. They seemed, he thought, to be wait for something even though he could only see the tops of their hats, all of their faces seemed to be pointing in one direction, and no(prenominal) of them were talking to one an other.The basin being circular, and the room he was sight square, Harry could not make out what was departure on in the corners of it. He leaned even closer, tilting his head, trying to seeThe topple of his nose touched the strange substance into which he was staring.Dumbledores office gave an all- magnateful lurch Harry was thrown forward and pitched headfirst into the substance inside the basin plainly his head did not hit the stone bottom. He was falling through something icy-cold and black it was like being sucked into a dark whirlpool And absolutely, Harry found himself school term on a patio at the end of the room inside the basin, a bench embossed blue above the others. He looked up at the high stone ceiling, expecting to see the circular window through which he had just been staring, moreover there was nothing there yet dark, solid stone. live hard and fast. Harry looked around him. Not one of the witches and wizards in the room (and there were at least two hundred of them) was looking at hi m. Not one of them seemed to pass water noticed that a fourteen-year-old son had just dropped from the ceiling into their midst. Harry turned to the wizard next to him on the bench and uttered a loud cry of surprise that reverberated around the tacit room.He was sitting right next to Albus Dumbledore.Professor Harry verbalise in a kind of strangled whisper. Im sorry I didnt mean to I was just looking at that basin in your cabinet I where are we? plainly Dumbledore didnt move or speak. He handle Harry completely. Like every other wizard on the benches, he was staring into the far corner of the room, where there was a door.Harry gazed, nonplussed, at Dumbledore, then around at the silently watchful crowd, then back at Dumbledore. And then it dawned on him.Once before. Harry had found himself someplace that nobody could see or hear him. That time, he had fallen through a page in an enchanted diary, right into somebody elses storeand unless he was very much mistaken, something of the sort had happened againHarry salary increased his right hand, hesitated, and then waved it energetically in from of Dumbledores face. Dumbledore did not blink, look around at Harry, or and then move at all. And that, in Harrys opinion, settled the payoff. Dumbledore wouldnt ignore him like that. He was inside a memory, and this was not the contemporary Dumbledore. Yet it couldnt be that long agothe Dumbledore sitting next to him like a shot was silver-haired, just like the present-day Dumbledore. plainly what was this place? What were all these wizards wait for?Harry looked around much carefully. The room, as he had suspected when observing it from above, was almost certainly underground more of a keep than a room, he thought. There was a bleak and forbidding air about the place there were no pictures on the walls, no decorations at all just these serried rows of benches, rising in levels all around the room, all positioned so that they had a clear view of that cha ir with the chains on its arms.Before Harry could reach any conclusions about the place in which they were, he heard footsteps. The door in the corner of the dungeon opened and three people entered or at least one man, flanked by two dementors.Harrys insides went cold. The dementors tall, hooded creatures whose faces were concealed were gliding slowly toward the chair in the center of the room, each grasping one of the mans arms with their drained and rotten-looking hands. The man in the midst of them looked as though he was about to faint, and Harry couldnt blame himhe knew the dementors could not touch him inside a memory, moreover he remembered their power only too well. The watching crowd recoiled slightly as the dementors located the man in the arrange chair and glided back out of the room. The door swung shut behind them.Harry looked down at the man now sitting in the chair and saw that it was Karkaroff.Unlike Dumbledore, Karkaroff looked much junior his hair and goat ee were black. He was not dressed in sleek furs, but in thin and ragged robes. He was shaking. Even as Harry watched, the chains on the arms of the chair glowed suddenly gold and glided their way up Karkaroffs arms, binding him there.Igor Karkaroff, tell a curt verbalisesperson to Harrys left wing. Harry looked around and saw Mr. crisp standing up in the center of the bench beside him. twists hair was dark, his face was much less lined, he looked forgather and alert. You perplex been brought from Azkaban to present evidence to the Ministry of Magic. You wear given us to render that you have important breeding for us.Karkaroff straightened himself as best he could, tightly bound to the chair.I have, sir, he say, and although his voice was very scared, Harry could up to now hear the familiar unctuous note in it. I wish to be of use to the Ministry. I wish to help. I I hold up that the Ministry is trying to to round up the at long last of the Dark Lords supporters. I am eager to assist in any way I toilet.There was a murmur around the benches. Some of the wizards and witches were surveying Karkaroff with interest, others with say mistrust. wherefore Harry heard, quite distinctly, from Dumbledores other side, a familiar, growling voice saying, Filth.Harry leaned forward so that he could see past Dumbledore. Mad-Eye Moody was sitting there except that there was a very observable difference in his appearance. He did not have his magical eye, but two normal ones. Both were looking down upon Karkaroff, and twain were contract in intense dislike.Crouch is going to let him out, Moody disfranchised quietly to Dumbledore. Hes done a deal with him. Took me six months to track him down, and Crouch is going to let him go if hes got enough new name calling. allows hear his reading, I say, and throw him straight back to the dementors.Dumbledore made a small ring of dissent through his long, crooked nose.Ah, I was forgettingyou dont like the dement ors, do you, Albus? said Moody with a sardonic smile.No, said Dumbledore calmly, Im afraid I dont. I have long felt the Ministry is wrong to ally itself with such creatures.But for filth like this Moody said softly.You say you have names for us, Karkaroff, said Mr. Crouch. Let us hear them, please.You must understand, said Karkaroff hurriedly, that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named operated always in the extensiveest secrecy.He favourite(a) that we I mean to say, his supporters and I distress now, very deeply, that I ever counted myself among them -Get on with it, sneered Moody.- we never knew the names of every one of our fellows He alone knew exactly who we all were -Which was a wise move, wasnt it, as it prevented someone like you, Karkaroff, from turning all of them in, muttered Moody.Yet you say you have some names for us? said Mr. Crouch.I I do, said Karkaroff breathlessly. And these were important supporters, mark you. People I saw with my own eyes doing his bidding. I give th is discipline as a sign that I fully and totally renounce him, and am filled with a remorse so deep I tin can barely -These names are? said Mr. Crouch sharply.Karkaroff drew a deep breath.There was Antonin Dolohov, he said. I I saw him gouge countless Muggles and and non-supporters of the Dark Lord.And helped him do it, murmured Moody.We have already apprehended Dolohov, said Crouch. He was caught shortly after yourself.Indeed? said Karkaroff, his eyes widening. I I am delighted to hear itBut he didnt look it. Harry could tell that this news had come as a rattling blow to him. one and only(a) of his names was worthless.Any others? said Crouch coldly.Why, yesthere was Rosier, said Karkaroff hurriedly. Evan Rosier.Rosier is dead, said Crouch. He was caught shortly after you were too. He preferred to fight sort of than come quietly and was killed in the struggle.Took a turn of events of me with him, though, whispered Moody to Harrys right. Harry looked around at him once more , and saw him indicating the large chunk out of his nose to Dumbledore.No no more than Rosier deserved said Karkaroff, a real note of panic in his voice now. Harry could see that he was starting to worry that none of his information would be of any use to the Ministry. Karkaroffs eyes darted toward the door in the corner, behind which the dementors undoubtedly still stood, waiting.Any more? said Crouch.Yes said Karkaroff. There was Travers he helped murder the McKinnons Mulciber he specialized in the Imperius Curse, forced countless people to do horrific things Rookwood, who was a spy, and passed He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named useful information from inside the Ministry itselfHarry could tell that, this time, Karkaroff had struck gold. The watching crowd was all murmuring together.Rookwood? said Mr. Crouch, nodding to a witch sitting in front of him, who began scribbling upon her piece of parchment. Augustus Rookwood of the Department of Mysteries?The very same, said Karkaroff eagerly . I view he used a network of well-placed wizards, both inside the Ministry and out, to collect information -But Travers and Mulciber we have, said Mr. Crouch. precise well, Karkaroff, if that is all, you will be fadeed to Azkaban succession we decide -Not yet cried Karkaroff, looking quite desperate. Wait, I have moreHarry could see him sweating in the torchlight, his white beat contrasting strongly with the black of his hair and beard.Snape he shouted. Severus SnapeSnape has been cleared by this council, said Crouch disdainfully. He has been vouched for by Albus Dumbledore.No shouted Karkaroff, striving at the chains that bound him to the chair. I assure you Severus Snape is a end bird feederDumbledore had gotten to his feet.I have given evidence already on this matter, he said calmly. Severus Snape was indeed a ending Eater. However, he rejoined our side before Lord Voldemorts downfall and turned spy for us, at grand personal risk. He is now no more a Death Eater than I am.Harry turned to look at Mad-Eye Moody. He was wearing a look of deep sunplowedicism behind Dumbledores back.Very well, Karkaroff, Crouch said coldly, you have been of assistance. I shall review your case. You will return to Azkaban in the meantime.Mr. Crouchs voice faded. Harry looked around the dungeon was dissolve as though it were made of smoke everything was fading he could see only his own body all else was swirling darkness.And then, the dungeon returned. Harry was sitting in a different seat, still on the highest bench, but now to the left side of Mr. Crouch. The atm seemed quite different relaxed, even cheerful. The witches and wizards all around the walls were talking to one another, almost as though they were at some sort of sporting event. Harry noticed a witch halfway up the rows of benches opposite. She had short blonde hair, was wearing magenta robes, and was sucking the end of an acid-green quill. It was, unmistakably, a younger Rita Skeeter. Harry looked aroun d Dumbledore was sitting beside him again, wearing different robes. Mr. Crouch looked more tired and somehow fiercer, gaunter.Harry understood. It was a different memory, a different daya different trial.The door in the corner opened, and Ludo Bagman walked into the room.This was not, however, a Ludo Bagman gone to seed, but a Ludo Bagman who was clearly at the height of his Quidditch-playing fitness. His nose wasnt mazed now he was tall and lean and muscular. Bagman looked nervous as he sat down in the chained chair, but it did not bind him there as it had bound Karkaroff, and Bagman, perhaps taking intent from this, glanced around at the watching crowd, waved at a couple of them, and managed a small smile.Ludo Bagman, you have been brought here in front of the Council of Magical legal philosophy to answer charges relating to the activities of the Death Eaters, said Mr. Crouch. We have heard the evidence against you, and are about to reach our verdict. Do you have anything to ad d to your testimony before we pronounce judgment?Harry couldnt believe his ears. Ludo Bagman, a Death Eater?Only, said Bagman, smiling awkwardly, well I have Ive been a bit of an idiot -One or two wizards and witches in the surrounding seating smiled indulgently. Mr. Crouch did not appear to share their feelings. He was staring down at Ludo Bagman with an expression of the utmost severity and dislike.You never wheel spoke a truer word, boy, someone muttered dryly to Dumbledore behind Harry. He looked around and saw Moody sitting there again. If I didnt know hed always been dim, Id have said some of those Bludgers had permanently affected his brain.Ludovic Bagman, you were caught passing information to Lord Voldemorts supporters, said Mr. Crouch. For this, I suggest a term of manacles in Azkaban lasting no less than -But there was an hot under the collar(predicate) outcry from the surrounding benches. Several of the witches and wizards around the walls stood up, shaking their h eads, and even their fists, at Mr. Crouch.But Ive told you, I had no idea Bagman called earnestly over the crowds babble, his round blue eyes widening. None at all obsolete Rookwood was a friend of my dadsnever crossed my mind he was in with You-Know-Who I thought I was collecting information for our side And Rookwood kept talking about getting me a job in the Ministry by and by ononce my Quidditch days are over, you knowI mean, I cant keep getting hit by Bludgers for the rest of my life, can I?There were titters from the crowd.It will be put to the vote, said Mr. Crouch coldly. He turned to the right-hand side of the dungeon. The jury will please mug up their handsthose in favor of imprisonmentHarry looked toward the right-hand side of the dungeon. Not one person raised their hand. Many of the witches and wizards around the walls began to clap. One of the witches on the jury stood up.Yes? barked Crouch.Wed just like to congratulate Mr. Bagman on his splendid performance for Eng land in the Quidditch match against Turkey last Saturday, the witch said breathlessly.Mr. Crouch looked furious. The dungeon was ringing with applause now. Bagman got to his feet and bowed, beaming.Despicable, Mr. Crouch spat at Dumbledore, sitting down as Bagman walked out of the dungeon. Rookwood get him a job indeed.The day Ludo Bagman joins us will be a sad day indeed for the Ministry.And the dungeon dissolved again. When it had returned, Harry looked around. He and Dumbledore were still sitting beside Mr. Crouch, but the atmosphere could not have been more different. There was total silence, broken only by the dry sobs of a frail, wispy-looking witch in the seat next to Mr. Crouch. She was clutching a handkerchief to her mouth with trembling hands.Harry looked up at Crouch and saw that he looked gaunter and grayer than ever before. A nerve was move involuntarily in his temple.Bring them in, he said, and his voice echoed through the silent dungeon.The door in the corner opened yet again. Six dementors entered this time, flanking a assembly of four people. Harry saw the people in the crowd turn to look up at Mr. Crouch. A few of them whispered to one another.The dementors placed each of the four people in the four chairs with chained arms that now stood on the dungeon floor. There was a summary man who stared blankly up at Crouch a filamentlike and more nervous-looking man, whose eyes were darting around the crowd a woman with thick, flare dark hair and heavily hooded eyes, who was sitting in the chained chair as though it were a throne and a boy in his late teens, who looked nothing short of petrified. He was shivering, his straw-colored hair all over his face, his freckled skin milk-white. The wispy little witch beside Crouch began to rocknroll backward and forward in her seat, whimpering into her handkerchief.Crouch stood up. He looked down upon the four in front of him, and there was pure hatred in his face.You have been brought here before the Co uncil of Magical Law, he said clearly, so that we whitethorn pass judgment on you, for a crime so atrocious - overprotect, said the boy with the straw-colored hair. Fatherplease- that we have rarely heard the like of it within this court, said Crouch, speaking more loudly, drowning out his sons voice.We have heard the evidence against you. The four of you stand accused of capturing an Auror free-spoken Longbottom and subjecting him to the Cruciatus Curse, believe him to have knowledge of the present whereabouts of your exiled master, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named -Father, I didnt shrieked the boy in chains below. I didnt, I swear it. Father, dont send me back to the dementors -You are further accused, bellowed Mr. Crouch, of using the Cruciatus Curse on Frank Longbottoms wife, when he would not give you information. You planned to restore He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named to power, and to resume the lives of violence you presumably led while he was strong. I now ask the jury - perplex screame d the boy below, and the wispy little witch beside Crouch began to sob, rocking backward and forward. Mother, stop him. Mother, I didnt do it, it wasnt meI now ask the jury, shouted Mr. Crouch, to raise their hands if they believe, as I do, that these crimes deserve a life condemn in AzkabanIn unison, the witches and wizards along the right-hand side of the dungeon raised their hands. The crowd around the walls began to clap as it had for Bagman, their faces full of savage triumph. The boy began to scream.No Mother, no I didnt do it, I didnt do it, I didnt know Dont send me there, dont let himThe dementors were gliding back into the room. The boys three companions rosiness quietly from their seats the woman with the heavy-lidded eyes looked up at Crouch and called, The Dark Lord will rise again, Crouch Throw us into Azkaban we will wait He will rise again and will come for us, he will reward us beyond any of his other supporters We alone were faithful We alone tried to find himBut the boy was trying to fight off the dementors, even though Harry could see their cold, draining power starting to affect him. The crowd was jeering, some of them on their feet, as the woman swept out of the dungeon, and the boy go on to struggle.Im your son he screamed up at Crouch. Im your sonYou are no son of mine bellowed Mr. Crouch, his eyes bulging suddenly. I have no sonThe wispy witch beside him gave a great gasp and slumped in her seat. She had fainted. Crouch appeared not to have noticed.Take them away Crouch roared at the dementors, spit flying from his mouth. Take them away, and may they rot thereFather Father, I wasnt conglomerate No No Father, pleaseI think. Harry, it is time to return to my office, said a quiet voice in Harrys ear.Harry started. He looked around. Then he looked on his other side.There was an Albus Dumbledore sitting on his right, watching Crouchs son being dragged away by the dementors and there was an Albus Dumbledore on his left, looking right at him.Come, said the Dumbledore on his left, and he put his hand under Harrys elbow. Harry felt himself rising into the air the dungeon dissolved around him for a moment, all was blackness, and then he felt as though he had done a slow-motion somersault, suddenly landing flat on his feet, in what seemed like the dazzling light of Dumbledores sunlit office. The stone basin was shimmering in the cabinet in front of him, and Albus Dumbledore was standing beside him.Professor, Harry gasped, I know I shouldntve I didnt mean the cabinet door was sort of open and -I quite understand, said Dumbledore. He lifted the basin, carried it over to his desk, placed it upon the polished top, and sat down in the chair behind it. He motioned for Harry to sit down opposite him.Harry did so, staring at the stone basin. The contents had returned to their original, silvery-white state, swirling and flux beneath his gaze.What is it? Harry asked shakily.This? It is called a Pensieve, said Dumbledore. I so metimes find, and I am sure you know the feeling, that I scarce have too many thoughts and memories crammed into my mind.Er, said Harry, who couldnt truthfully say that he had ever felt anything of the sort.At these times, said Dumbledore, indicating the stone basin, I use the Pensieve. One simply siphons the excess thoughts from ones mind, pours them into the basin, and examines them at ones leisure. It becomes easier to spot patterns and links, you understand, when they are in this form.You meanthat stuffs your thoughts? Harry said, staring at the swirling white substance in the basin.Certainly, said Dumbledore. Let me show you.Dumbledore drew his wand out of the inside of his robes and placed the wind instrument into his own silvery hair, near his temple. When he took the wand away, hair seemed to be clinging to it but then Harry saw that it was in fact a glistening strand of the same strange silvery-white substance that filled the Pensieve. Dumbledore added this sporting tho ught to the basin, and Harry, astonished, saw his own face smooth around the surface of the bowl. Dumbledore placed his long hands on either side of the Pensieve and swirled it, rather as a gold prospector would pan for fragments of gold.and Harry saw his own face change smoothly into Snapes, who opened his mouth and spoke to the ceiling, his voice echoing slightly.Its coming backKarkaroffs toostronger and clearer than everA connection I could have made without assistance, Dumbledore sighed, but never mind. He peered over the top of his half-moon spectacles at Harry, who was gaping at Snapes face, which was continuing to swirl around the bowl. I was using the Pensieve when Mr. Fudge arrived for our clashing and put it away rather hastily. Undoubtedly I did not deposit the cabinet door properly. Naturally, it would have attracted your attention.Im sorry, Harry mumbled.Dumbledore shook his head. Curiosity is not a sin, he said. But we should exercise caution with our infrequencyye s, indeedFrowning slightly, he prodded the thoughts within the basin with the tip of his wand. Instantly, a look-alike rose out of it, a plump, scowling girl of about sixteen, who began to twine slowly, with her feet still in the basin. She took no notice whatsoever of Harry or Professor Dumbledore. When she spoke, her voice echoed as Snapes had done, as though it were coming from the depths of the stone basin. He put a hex on me, Professor Dumbledore, and I was only teasing him, sir, I only said Id seen him kissing Florence behind the greenhouses last Thursday.But why. Bertha, said Dumbledore sadly, looking up at the now silently revolving girl, why did you have to follow him in the first place?Bertha? Harry whispered, looking up at her. Is that was that Bertha Jorkins?Yes, said Dumbledore, gad the thoughts in the basin again Bertha sank back into them, and they became silvery and opaque once more. That was Bertha as I remember her at school.The silvery light from the Pensieve lit Dumbledores face, and it struck Harry suddenly how very old he was looking. He knew, of course, that Dumbledore was getting on in years, but somehow he never really thought of Dumbledore as an old man.So, Harry, said Dumbledore quietly. Before you got lost in my thoughts, you wanted to tell me something.Yes, said Harry. Professor I was in Divination just now, and er I fell asleep.He hesitated here, enquire if a reprimand was coming, but Dumbledore merely said, Quite understandable. Continue. wholesome, I had a dream, said Harry. A dream about Lord Voldemort. He was torture Wormtailyou know who Wormtail-I do know, said Dumbledore promptly. Please continue.Voldemort got a garner from an owl. He said something like, Wormtails blunder had been repaired. He said someone was dead. Then he said, Wormtail wouldnt be fed to the snake there was a snake beside his chair. He said he said hed be feeding me to it, instead. Then he did the Cruciatus Curse on Wormtail and my scar hurt, Harry said. It woke me up, it hurt so badly.Dumbledore merely looked at him.Er thats all, said Harry.I see, said Dumbledore quietly. I see. Now, has your scar hurt at any other time this year, excepting the time it woke you up over the summer?No, I how did you know it woke me up over the summer? said Harry, astonished.You are not Siriuss only correspondent, said Dumbledore. I have also been in contact with him ever since he left Hogwarts last year. It was I who suggested the mountainside cave as the safest place for him to stay.Dumbledore got up and began walking up and down behind his desk. Every now and then, he placed his wand tip to his temple, removed another shining silver thought, and added it to the Pensieve. The thoughts inside began to swirl so fast that Harry couldnt make out anything clearly It was merely a blur of color.Professor? he said quietly, after a couple of minutes.Dumbledore stop pacing and looked at Harry.My apologies, he said quietly. He sat back down at h is desk.Dyou dyou know why my scars hurting me?Dumbledore looked very intently at Harry for a moment, and then said, I have a theory, no more than that.It is my judgment that your scar hurts both when Lord Voldemort is near you, and when he is feeling a particularly strong surge of hatred.Butwhy?Because you and he are connected by the curse that failed, said Dumbledore. That is no ordinary scar.So you thinkthat dreamdid it really happen?It is possible, said Dumbledore. I would say probable. Harry did you see Voldemort?No, said Harry. Just the back of his chair. But there wouldnt have been anything to see, would there? I mean, he hasnt got a body, has he? Butbut then how could he have held the wand? Harry said slowly.How indeed? muttered Dumbledore. How indeedNeither Dumbledore nor Harry spoke for a while. Dumbledore was gazing across the room, and, every now and then, placing his wand tip to his temple and adding another shining silver thought to the seething mass within the Pe nsieve.Professor, Harry said at last, do you think hes getting stronger?Voldemort? said Dumbledore, looking at Harry over the Pensieve. It was the characteristic, piercing look Dumbledore had given him on other occasions, and always made Harry feel as though Dumbledore were comprehend right through him in a way that even Moodys magical eye could not. Once again. Harry, I can only give you my suspicions.Dumbledore sighed again, and he looked older, and wearier, than ever.The years of Voldemorts ascent to power, he said, were marked with disappearances. Bertha Jorkins has vanished without a trace in the place where Voldemort was certainly known to be last. Mr. Crouch too has disappearedwithin these very grounds. And there was a third disappearance, one which the Ministry, I regret to say, do not consider of any importance, for it concerns a Muggle. His name was Frank Bryce, he lived in the village where Voldemorts father grew up, and he has not been seen since last August. You see, I read the Muggle newspapers, unlike most of my Ministry friends.Dumbledore looked very seriously at Harry.These disappearances seem to me to be linked. The Ministry disagrees as you may have heard, while waiting outside my office.Harry nodded. Silence fell between them again, Dumbledore extracting thoughts every now and then. Harry felt as though he ought to go, but his curiosity held him in his chair.Professor? he said again.Yes, Harry? said Dumbledore.Ercould I ask you aboutthat court thing I was inin the Pensieve?You could, said Dumbledore heavily. I attended it many times, but some trials come back to me more clearly than othersparticularly now.You know you know the trial you found me in? The one with Crouchs son? Well.were they talking about Nevilles parents?Dumbledore gave Harry a very sharp look. Has Neville never told you why he has been brought up by his grandmother? he said.Harry shook his head, wondering, as he did so, how he could have failed to ask Neville this, in a lmost four years of knowing him.Yes, they were talking about Nevilles parents, said Dumbledore. His father, Frank, was an Auror just like Professor Moody. He and his wife were tortured for information about Voldemorts whereabouts after he lost his powers, as you heard.So theyre dead? said Harry quietly.No, said Dumbledore, his voice full of a freshness Harry had never heard there before. They are insane. They are both in St. Mungos Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries. I believe Neville visits them, with his grandmother, during the holidays. They do not recognize him.Harry sat there, horror-struck. He had never knownnever, in four years, bothered to find outThe Longbottoms were very popular, said Dumbledore. The attacks on them came after Voldemorts fall from power, just when everyone thought they were safe. Those attacks caused a wave of fierceness such as I have never known. The Ministry was under great pressure to catch those who had done it. Unfortunately, the Longbottom s evidence was given their condition none too reliable.Then Mr. Crouchs son might not have been involved? said Harry slowly.Dumbledore shook his head.As to that, I have no idea.Harry sat in silence once more, watching the contents of the Pensieve swirl. There were two more questions he was burning to askbut they concerned the guilt of living people.Er, he said, Mr. Bagman.has never been accused of any Dark activity since, said Dumbledore calmly.Right, said Harry hastily, staring at the contents of the Pensieve again, which were swirling more slowly now that Dumbledore had stopped adding thoughts. AnderBut the Pensieve seemed to be asking his question for him.Snapes face was swimming on the surface again. Dumbledore glanced down into it, and then up at Harry.No more has Professor Snape, he said.Harry looked into Dumbledores light blue eyes, and the thing he really wanted to know spilled out of his mouth before he could stop it.What made you think hed really stopped backup Voldemor t, Professor?Dumbledore held Harrys gaze for a few seconds, and then said, That, Harry, is a matter between Professor Snape and myself.Harry knew that the interview was over Dumbledore did not look angry, yet there was a finality in his tone that told Harry it was time to go. He stood up, and so did Dumbledore.Harry, he said as Harry reached the door. Please do not speak about Nevilles parents to anybody else. He has the right to let people know, when he is ready.Yes, Professor, said Harry, turning to go.And-Harry looked back. Dumbledore was standing over the Pensieve, his face lit from beneath by its silvery spot of light, looking older than ever. He stared at Harry for a moment, and then said, Good luck with the third task.