We left the room out of courtesy for the aging professor as nobody felt it would be right to intrude in such a tender moment. The only words Dumbledore managed to choke out were to bring in his brother, Aberforth.
After all, his brother had the same right to closure as Albus did. When his brother was finally convinced to go into the room, he looked like he had seen a ghost… Well, he did, but you get my meaning.
"You know, Pyra. I kinda envy him." I muttered to Pyra while we were sitting downstairs, waiting.
"What could you—oh, right. They are not here, are they?" Pyra started asking with confusion then it hit her what I meant.
"No, they are not. I've checked. Multiple times."
"I'm sorry." Pyra looked sad on my behalf.
"Don't be. It'll be close to a decade since they departed. I made peace with that a long time ago. Just that seeing Dumbles like that brought back some memories is all." I shrugged. I wasn't feeling particularly sad, just nostalgic, I guess.
"Why don't we go, and have a photo album developed? Wizards can capture photos from memories." She suggested, and I just looked at her.
"Brilliant! We'll definitely have to do that, and we should get some photos with the two of us." I hugged her and kissed her cheek. Whatever brief sadness I felt was instantly replaced with joy.
"Hehe~" Pyra laughed quietly.
We didn't really talk to each other that much, other than small talk. Dumbledore's group left us pretty much alone, and I was glad they did. The only person I could see myself talking to from this bunch is Tonks, and that girl has been trying to stay as far away from us as possible.
After about half an hour, the figures of the two brothers slowly descended the stairs. The atmosphere between them was significantly warmer. Huh, I guess whatever Ariana told them lifted a significant weight off of their shoulders.
"So, all good?" I asked the two.
"Aye, lass, never better. Thank you." Aberforth's thanks was about as heartfelt as I felt the gruff man could manage. Dumbledore, on the other hand, was positively beaming. Almost as if he de-aged a couple of decades.
"You have my thanks as well. Truly, Miss Strauss, I don't think I will ever be able to repay this. You've given me something I was searching for my entire life, closure." His smile was almost childlike, and his eyes danced with happiness.
"Here, take this back. We swore to her not to use it again." He handed me back the stone. Though I could see a pang of regret flash across his face when he did so.
"You're welcome, Mr. Dumbledore. I trust that you will let Harry use it as well?" I pocketed the stone.
"Oh, I will, I definitely will. However, if you don't mind me asking about the legend, is it true?"
"Unfortunately not. Their purpose must have been heavily embellished throughout history as they are nothing more than powerful artefacts."
"Very well, thank you for indulging my curiosity. I do, however, have a few more things I wish to discuss, if you don't mind."
"Oh? What things?" It took me by surprise. I thought that with him using the stone, we would be done here.
"Mainly, you forcing Harry out of his relative's home. Voldemort may be gone now, but his followers are still at large."
"Please… the only real threat is Lucius, and while that man is a piece of garbage, he has a sense of self-preservation, he would never attack him. Harry deserves to be with a family that wants him because the Dursleys definitely did not, and they let it show. The only reason I didn't shred the blood wards when I was there was that it would harm the kid. Let the boy stay with Black."
"Sirius is still a wanted man, in case you forgot."
"You have Pettigrew's body, put some bloody pressure on the minister, and get him a trial."
"That might not be as simple as you imagine. I am currently not in the minister's favor." Dumbledore said with a chuckle.
"Go to the press, force his hand."
"While not an option I would normally use, it is a viable strategy. I have to think about this matter carefully." I just nodded. I didn't particularly care about what they did now. I helped Harry because his fate sucked ass, and that's about it. I fixed the worst, and the rest was up to them.
"Do you have anything else you want to ask?"
"Your plans for the wizarding world?"
"Don't worry about me. You'll be seeing us for another month at most, and then we'll leave." I brushed off his concern with a wave of my hand. Other than the novelty of this being the Harry Potter world, it was mostly just a carbon copy of my Earth, and now that I had the option to leave to whatever world I wished to, staying on Earth, even if it had magic, just wasn't cutting it.
"Leave?" He asked curiously.
"Yeah, I had my fun playing here, but I don't think I'll ever want to settle in the Wizarding World."
"I'm just… I'm just going to ignore you calling what you did 'playing' and move on. Any particular destination in mind?" He asked probingly. Though if I were in his place and somebody like me showed up in his backyard, I too would like to know what they were up to.
"Don't know yet. I'll probably just toss a dart at a map and go there." I wasn't even lying. I didn't know the vast majority of the worlds out there. To me, it really was just a shot in the dark.
"Ah, to be young and adventurous again…One last thing. How do I contact you, regarding the Harry situation?"
"We'll be visiting Diagon in three days. You can meet us there. Bring Harry with you."
"I think that's inadvisable. There would be too many eyes on young Harry, but I will send Nymphadora there to pick you up."
"Okay, you do that. Goodbye, everyone, I'll see you in three days, Tonks."
—
It was almost midnight by the time we made our way home. Mostly because we decided to fly there.
"So you want to leave in a month?" Pyra asked me once we got comfortable on the couch.
"Probably sooner if I'm being honest. I'm sorry, Pyra, but I'm getting kinda bored here. I have like three more things I really want to do, but after that I want to leave and actually have an adventure." I said.
"Three? I thought only taking Azkaban was left. What are the other two?"
"I want Grindelwald's power and knowledge, you know, I almost forgot about him, but seeing Dumbledore's sister reminded me of him. Plus, I want to take Fawkes."
"Hmm~ Grindelwald is simple, but Fawkes might be an issue." Pyra hummed thoughtfully.
"Why would he be an issue? It's just a bird."
"While that's true, it's also Dumbledore's familiar. A bond like that doesn't break easily. Why do you want him anyway?"
"It's a flaming bird…" I said with a deadpan look.
"Right… I'm sorry, but unless you want to kill Dumbledore to break that bond, the bird will have to stay here for the time being."
"I already said I would not be doing that, but what do you mean for the time being?" I asked curiously.
"He is very old and has like fifteen years to live, max. We can always just come back here and take the bird if you still want it at that point."
"Ugh— but I want him now…" I whined.
"There, there." Pyra patted my head, as if I were a child. And wouldn't you know it? It worked, I was less upset.
"Maybe we'll find something much cooler in the next world. I wouldn't mind a proper dragon, not the lame ones they have here." I said wistfully. Honestly, I just wanted a cool fire pet.
"Then we'll go and get you a real dragon, Emily. And I know just the right world for it as well." Pyra said sweetly and kissed my forehead.
"Please tell me it's not just another version of Earth. I'd rather avoid those for the foreseeable future."
"No, it's not, in fact it's—" "Don't tell me! I want to be surprised." I interrupted her before she had the chance to divulge any information. I wanted to go into my future world blind. I felt it would be more fun that way.
"Hehe~ Okay okay. I won't tell you." Pyra giggled.
"When do you plan on taking the prison? Or killing Grindelwald for that matter?"
"After that business with Harry is done, I'm thinking a week of preparations, you know, buying clothes, foods that we'll miss, and such. Then we'll have to prepare the whole island to leave with us. I know the disappearance of Azkaban will cause quite the stir, so I'd like to do it all in one day and then leave right away."
"Unless you want to stay longer? I wouldn't mind it one bit." I asked Pyra. If she wanted to, I would stay for a long time.
"No, thank you. While I really like the clothes and the food this world has to offer, it's otherwise pretty bland."
"I know, right? Maybe it would be different if we were younger and went to study at Hogwarts."
"I don't know about you, but going to school sounds absolutely dreadful, even to a magical one." Pyra shuddered.
"... yeah, it would probably wear off pretty quick, huh?"
"*Yawn* Y-yeah, it would." Pyra's mouth stretched with a big yawn, and mine immediately followed.
"*Yawn* … We should sleep. I'm dead tired."
" Pft! Of course you're tired, you were using your brain today quite a bit, after all." Pyra chuckled and started running.
"Hey! Just wait until I get my hands on you, missy!" I threw a pillow at her retreating form and followed after her.