Chapter 67 - Catalyst

A long silenced filled the room as Oz disarmed Dumbledore. Dumbledore's face was especially colourful to Oz, filled with surprise and shock. Very quickly, the old man softened and hid his surprise before looking at Oz with a warm smile.

"You are indeed an enigma Oz. Your magic power explosively increased to past my level for a time there, something I've never even heard of before. I wonder if this is due to your heritage or your own talents...".

Oz himself knew the answer to Dumbledore's query, The only reason he won was because of the dragon-like qualities within him that he got from Merlin's bloodline and later were powered through the Animagus ritual. Dragons were competitive fighters and that blood responded to Oz's will, allowing him to increase his strength explosively. However, this explosive increase left Oz feeling very weak.

In truth he got lucky, If they fought again Oz would lose as Dumbledore would be prepared for such a surprise increase in strength.

Dwelling on these thoughts Oz stared at his now former teacher in silence. Dumbledore himself lightly walked over to where his wand had flew off to and picked it up. Oz caught a glimpse of Dumbledore's expression as he picked the wand up, the man seemed conflicted with even a hint of anxiety mixed into his gaze. Oz himself knew the reason for this.

'I disarmed him... meaning that the elder wand he wields is technically destined to be mine one day. The old man wont give it up today for sure... he's had the wand for so long he may know how to make it work for him until his death, however when he dies...'.

The elder wand was destined to fall into Oz's hands.

Strangely enough though, Oz didn't feel excitement or expectation. With his hands grasping both his wands he thought deeply.

'While the elder wand is certainly the most powerful wand in existence... I have no dėsɨrė for it. These wands that have selected me as their first wielder seem far more trustworthy. Id rather grow with these wands than take a wand thats history is known to be filled of death'.

Dumbledore slowly walked back over to Oz, face to face as he put his hand on Oz's shoulder.

"Congratulations on passing my little test Oz... Truth be told, I've been extremely wary of you as I never accounted for a character such as yourself to join my school. However, after your spoken words in defence of Harry and seeing your will in battle, I believe your heart is in the right place and that you're not here to cause harm".

Taking his hand off of Oz's shoulder he looked around the chess room, now riddled with scars and debris from the fight they had just had.

"It also seems I need to re-evaluate myself once again...".

With his mind wondering, Dumbledore looked back at Oz.

"Ill entrust you to go and help Harry back up after his fight. He's certain to win due to his advantage, so please bring him up to the hospital wing when he's all finished, he's certain to be exhausted".

Looking in the eyes of the old headmaster, Oz could sense that today was a turning point for the old man, his views had changed after the last couple years Oz had been involved in this school. While he wont change suddenly, this start was good.

"I look forward to seeing where you'll end up in the years to come".

And with that, the old man left the chess room. Oz himself was still registering the fight as he fell to the floor in exhaustion. The intense magic power increase had made him feel extremely fatigued. He sat and allowed his body to slowly rejuvenate as he mulled over all that had happened.

'Dumbledore is seeming to change slowly... I don't know if its an act or not yet but if it isn't then this could work out to be much better than what I planned for him'.

Knowing how dangerous the headmaster's methods could be, Oz had a plan in his head from the moment he first met the man and gained an opinion of him. He was prepared to kill him if he had to, even if that would mean he'd make enemies with the very school that was bringing him up.

Thinking on all of this, Oz's eyes suddenly shot open.

'Did... did he forget about the stone entirely? Although its roughly explained, I always gathered that Dumbledore took the stone from Harry as he brought him up to the hospital wing within Hogwarts. If he's entrusting Harry to me... does that mean he also entrusts me with the stone...? No... maybe he was just distracted by the fact I disarmed him and it slipped his mind...'.

Standing up slowly, Oz looked over to where Harry had headed earlier on.

'Well... I guess I can thank the old man. It seems I've finally found my catalyst'.

With that last thought, Oz ran off towards where Harry had headed.

After a while of running, Oz eventually ended up in the room where the mirror of erised was. Just in front of him, he saw Harry laid on the floor asleep and to his right was the clothes of Quirrell, dust strewn around them.

'It seems the boy didn't disappoint'.

Oz slowly walked down the steps of the room as he used 'Mobilicorpus' to pick up the exhausted boy. As he lifted the boy in the air, he noticed the philosophers stone on the floor, right near where Harry's hand was.

Oz crouched down and picked it up, looking at the stone with his dragon eyes he noted how much energy was trapped within this stone. Nicolas Flamel and Dumbledore were both people not to be underestimated in alchemy, Nicolas Flamel especially. Oz himself had trained up in alchemy recently but he was no way near the level of being able to produce something like this.

He carefully put the stone in his pocket as put on his health specs he had. He wanted to diagnose Harry properly to make sure that he wasn't hurt badly anywhere. Using the health specs in tangent with his dragon eyes he was able to diagnose the boy incredibly fast and found he only had minor injuries, magical power exhaustion was what knocked the boy out.

Seeing how all this had ended, Oz let out a sigh of relief. This night went perfectly for him. He'd secured a catalyst, got rid of Quirrell and also managed to get Dumbledore off his back finally. With all these things perfectly panning out, he could now look forward to the next year with no obstructions in the way.

Just as Oz was about to leave however, he caught a glimpse of himself in the Mirror of Erised....