The Anger .

Harry then guided Daphne to a chair before taking the other.

"Now, Harry, I need you to step me through what happened that..." began the Headmaster before Daphne interrupted him.

"Excuse me, Headmaster," she firmly said. "But, I was not aware my betrothed has given you leave to use his first name in so offhanded a manner. You are aware, no doubt, that to do so without leave is high insult?"

"Errr - yes, Miss Greengrass," stuttered the Headmaster. "I meant no disrespect. I was, of course, Harry's - Mister Potter's magical guardian for almost ten years..."

"And in all that time spent no more than about an hour of time with him," she interrupted again. "And, even then, that was when he was but a small infant. I hardly see how that gives you leave to disrespect him now."

Though the old man's expression didn't change, Harry noticed how his eyes suddenly appeared to go flat. The twinkle that was there had now gone.

"Again, my apologies, Miss Greengrass, Mister Potter," he said before rearranging himself more comfortably in his seat. "Now, about that night. Please step me through what happened in your own words."

"No, thank you, Headmaster," replied Harry in a cool tone. "I do not wish to relive that night. If there's anything you want to know it will be covered in the extensive report held by the DMLE for which you, I believe, have access."

"I really wanted to hear it in your own words, Ha.. Mister Potter," said the Headmaster, eyes twinkling away again.

"And, as I've already clearly told you, I have no wish to relive that night," replied Harry firmly.

"I'm afraid I must insist, Mister Potter," said the Headmaster just as firmly.

"Headmaster," spat Harry, starting to lose his temper. "I don't give a flying rats arse what you insist upon. You don't seem to understand you have no authority to make such an insistence and expect it to be obeyed. Your incredible level of hubris has apparently blinded your cognizance to reality!" Dumbledore stared back with a look of stunned shock.

"For someone who carries themself as the so-called 'Leader of the Light', your actions as they relate to me over the past decade identify you as little more than a nascent Dark Lord!" ranted Harry. "How anyone could possibly think that kidnapping a defenceless, recently-orphaned infant from their rightful guardian before then dumping said infant on a doorstep, far from his rightful home, in the middle of a cold autumnal night, was not an evil and despicable act frankly defies rational thought!

"No, Headmaster; it is I who should be doing the insisting here. And I insist you tell me just what the bloody hell you thought you were doing?"

Throughout Harry's rant Dumbledore sat there unmoving. His eyes were wide and his skin tone pale. After a long few seconds Dumbledore's whole body seemed to collapse in upon itself. His chin dropped towards his chest.

Looking back up and taking a deep breath Dumbledore said, "What I did was for the Greater Good. Placing you with the sister of your mother and her family meant you could be hidden safe behind blood wards. The sacrifice your mother made that saved your life on that night could be transferred to the home of your aunt and her family. You were safe there."

"Bullshit!" yelled Harry. "Has it utterly slipped your mind I was beaten and abused there? You've seen the evidence. You know the truth. I was not safe there!"

"The blood wards protect you from Voldemort's followers," tried Dumbledore. "They protected you from those in the wizarding world who meant to do you harm. I did what I did for your protection."

"And did nothing to protect me from those outside the wizarding world; from my own so-called family!" snarled Harry. "Youclaimed magical guardianship over me, Dumbledore. It was your claimed responsibility to ensure I wasn't being mistreated while housed with the Dursleys. You never checked up on me You failed in your duty - Something for which I pray you will answer come Monday."

"Har... Mister Potter, I'm afraid you're too young to understand there..."

"Too young, you say?" cut in Harry. "Then how about the counsel of ones even wiser than you. One of this planet's greatest philosophers, a man who is still well known and read these two thousand years later for his wisdom, Plato of Ancient Greece, said, 'This, and no other, is the root from which a tyrant springs; when he first appears he is a protector.'

"And a great man of the early part of this century, Clive Staples Lewis, an author and an academic like yourself from one of the greatest establishments of learning in the world, said, 'Of all the tyrannies, a tyranny exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own goodwill torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.'

"The type of person both great men were speaking about, Dumbledore, was you! Your so-called 'Greater Good' is no more than you lying to your own conscience, attempting to justify yourself an excuse for your self-aggrandisement.

"I'm fully aware, Dumbledore, there are a great many people out there who believe you can do no wrong. However, as Mahatma Ghandi, a famous Indian philosopher, once said, 'An error does not become truth by reason of multiplied propagation, nor does truth become error because nobody sees it.'

After glaring back at the ashen-faced silent Headmaster for a few more moments, Harry said, "Too young to understand, you say? I understand far more than you give me credit." He turned to Daphne and said, "Come, my Lady; I believe it's time we take our leave."

He stood and assisted Daphne to stand alongside him. Moving aside from the chairs on which they sat, he turned to Professor Flitwick and said, "Thank you for your attendance, this evening, Professor. My Lady and I will be leaving.

"And just so you know, Albus! I'll be reporting to Madam Bones, acting in her role as prosecutor, that you sought to interview me in private, this night," he snarled. "And, as it is highly likely I'll be a witness for the prosecution against you come Monday, she may wish to press even more charges against you for what could easily be perceived as witness tampering!"

That, clearly, startled the Headmaster. It was obvious he hadn't thought of that.

Professor Flitwick gave a small shocked but curt nod before hopping down off a small stool he'd conjured and led them out of the office.

None looked back. "You're going dark, Harry," called the Headmaster, almost as an after thought.

Stopping for a moment, Harry turned back and said, "I was physically and mentally abused in that house, Headmaster; for nigh on ten years. It was all I ever knew; all I ever expected. That can change a person. It changed me.

"I'm not going dark, Headmaster.

I'm already dark. And it's allbecause of you and your interference in the wishes of my parents." He then turned back to the door and left with the other two.

After they'd left, Professor Snape stepped out of the private quarters off the office. He walked across to a tall cabinet and, after opening one of the doors at the top of the cabinet, drew out a bottle of firewhiskey.

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