244 Late night drinking?.. Sign me up!

In a dimly lit office sits an elderly man with a huge white beard and golden spectacles resting on his slightly crooked nose. He wears flamboyant white robes and sips Fire Whisky as he ponders about recent events. Sirius black had unfortunately been killed while following his instructions on how to escape Britain, he'd been keeping in correspondence with Sirius via his Pheonix Fawkes... Through his telepathic connection with his familiar he'd seen the black dog jump through a thick bush to escape his pursuers only to be impaled on a young woman's blade, the fierce look in her eyes seem to fade as he transformed back into his human appearance. Albus Dumbledore had shed few tears in his life but witnessing the death of a man who he himself had accidentally condemned to a lifetime of torture had been truly dreadful, perhaps the second or third thing he'd regret the most until he finally passes. He'd had to cut the mental connection as Sirius tried to beg for Harry's sake as it was too much to handle. And of course it would be, Albus himself had even condemned the man's Godson to a life of mistreatment and eventual death due to his poor past choices. But in the end it was all for the greater good, he could not allow Voldemort's horcruxes to continue existing, his search hadn't revealed much and the only ones he actually knew of were the one inside of young Harry's scar and the book he'd unintentionally destroyed.

He and his close confidant Severus Snape knew it was only a matter of time before Voldemort resurrected and so he had contacted his close friend Alastor Moody to keep an eye on harry this year. The man's skill was almost legendary and Albus was sure he'd be able to keep harry safe during the event the ministry had unfortunately pushed onto him... The Triwizard Tournament. He'd heavily objected to it's placement in Hogwarts but was overruled for \"International relations\" he scoffs to himself. Were it not for the bigoted populace who viewed those without \"Pure Blood\" as almost none-human such a thing wouldn't be a problem, alas all his efforts in changing this particular mindset had been stifled by the few remaining followers of Voldemort that had weasel'd their way out of Azkaban... Most people think it was he who was too soft and allowed them to go free but that is not the case, funnily enough it was the pressure from the international community that'd saved the wealthy pure-bloods. Their connections seemed to extend far outside of Britain, Italy, Germany, Russia and even Bulgaria had argued for them and insisted they were under the imperious curse. A curse that took away ones free will and made you a slave to the caster.

He rubs his eyes and looks down at the Daily Profits latest paper, the front page details Britain's \"New hero\" Ciri Rivia, the woman who accidentally killed Sirius under his watch. He'd received a surprising letter from Minister Fudge a few hours after the conference, it detailed his intentions to allow Ciri and a man called Reima Ludvig access to Hogwarts to finish their magical education. He'd been wary of this as it seemed to be a power play to allow the Ministry more control over Hogwarts but a few things clued him into something peculiar... The obvious thing was that Minister Fudge never personally sent letters, instead he usually either directly Floo'd into his office or sent someone in his stead. The other thing is his promotion of a foreigner who might not even be a Pure-Blood as a \"Hero\", Albus had thought Lucius Malfoy would bite this in the bud as he notoriously hated even Half-Bloods, despite them making up most of magical Britain.

Another thing that confused Albus was the information provided by Fudge, Ciri and her companion had claimed that they both hailed from Greenland... This couldn't be the case as he'd personally scoured the island looking for Horcruxes, he hadn't even gotten a whiff of a magical community residing there. Obviously he couldn't let this be known otherwise Voldemort might catch on that he knew of the Horcruxes.

He'd also received a letter from Ollivander detailing various things about Ciri and her strange friend Reima. The letter spoke of the man's strange cat-like eyes and strange reaction towards the wands he presented them. Albus found this especially strange as most wizards grew in strength as they aged, this Reima seemed to only be around 17 and apparently had more magical power than even himself... As the most powerful wizard currently in Britain and perhaps the world if he didn't constantly control his magic he'd also destroy any wand he touched, only through decades of learning to control his vast power was he able to use it for even delicate tasks. From what he had heard the young man named Reima lacked any kind of fine control, from Ollivander's own words \"It feels like he had only recently gained his power\"... Such a thing was only possible through the darkest of rituals that even Voldemort would not attempt, for fear of bringing nature itself down on his head.

Another matter he found strange was the fact that the two foreigners only seemed to be able to use staves? Ollivander noted that he suspected that they were capable of wandless magic but Albus highly doubted it, he was only capable of small party tricks through years of constant practise, if two young adults were able to naturally do such a thing he'd shave his beard. He wonders how they'd be able to use wand movements for the spells taught in the school but figures they must've already found a way to circumvent such a thing, after all why attend Hogwarts if they can't cast magic!?

In the end the old man could only hope for the best, he knew young Harry would be devastated when he heard the news and had sent letters to the Weasley household to try and comfort the young boy who'd lost his recently discovered Godfather.