Dark Lord Dumbledore - Volume 1 Chapter 75

The next week had seen Chad come to terms with his less than ideal animal form. He could now take to the skies at will and had a back-up plan if he was ever restricted from teleporting by either elf, portkey or his own apparition powers.

He had also been excessively monitoring himself for any changes to his personality and was happy when he found nothing. All in all, other than belonging to a family of birds that loved to cuck others, his new form would be quite useful.

Chad had even talked himself into believing a dragon would be too c.u.mbersome, and there would be little to no chance to use it. A dragon flying through the skies would be rather noticeable and become an easy target. Even if it was cool.

Boppy had come to report that Australia had mostly fallen under his control when Reeves was brought in to clean up after Chad’s overzealous plan had failed.

When the first wave of reinforcements had disappeared under the cold, uncaring waves of the sea, Reeves had sent out a video promising retaliation if there was another attack. Of course, keeping his identity a secret. No need for them to know an ex-spy was working against the Crown.

Since word had got out that the King of Chadtopia had managed to assassinate an entire government in one night, it certainly made them a lot more cautious about committing to a war they would gain nothing from. There had already been some debate on Australia becoming a Republic, even if it had yet to gain momentum.

If King Peverell had enough money to buy a Kingdom, wouldn’t he also have enough to purchase some black-market nuclear weapons? And then there was the genuine threat of their countries coming under risk of guerilla warfare.

Allowing anyone that wanted to leave the country to do so and broadcasting to the world a video showing the Australian government as the aggressors also gave legitimacy to Chad’s retaliation.

Though it was just semantics, it changed Britain’s righteous narrative of reclaiming the country from terrorists into something more akin to their past reputation as world conquerors and ruthless colonists.

As Chad’s father once said, ‘fighting is like play with sh*t. No matter if you win or lose, you still have sh*t on your hands’.

The United Kingdom could not afford to play with sh*t, but Chad had magic to clean his hands with. Not to mention that he had everything to gain and little to lose if Australia was invaded with foreign forces.

Since Reeves had everything under control, Chad had Boppy bring him twenty rebels to the Godric’s Hollow base. He would need them for his plan to subdue the only threat still left at Hogwarts.

Since Chad had changed canon with his meddling, it was unknown if Lucius Malfoy would still try to discard the Diary Horcrux next year when Mr Weasley started to raid ‘Dark’ families in a crackdown on dark artifacts.

There was still a good chance he will since it would be even easier to discredit McGonagall as unfit to lead Hogwarts than Dumbledore, but the timing may change. Lucius just needed the right incentive to betray any remaining loyalty to his old master by discarding the one item Voldemort entrusted to him to keep safe.

Either way, Chad had long since planned to make the Chamber of Secrets his own, and hopefully gain a thousand-year-old female Basilisk as an ally. If not, then he would at least obtain some new magical materials and ingredients to play with.

There was no way Chad was going to go anywhere near a Basilisk without some Phoenix Tears on hand or a way to negate the deadly eyesight of the beast. He had already designed a possible solution for the death gaze but had no cure-all in case of poisoning.

He had yet to visit his new Phoenix, but Boppy had assured him that it was still incarcerated and healthy. It had stopped futility smashing itself against the bars of its cage after a week, the constant supply of food may have played a part in settling it down.

Especially when it ravenously devoured some strawberries that were brought for it to try. It seems they were a favourite of the fiery bird. Still, Chad was pretty sure a few berries were not going to stop it being pissed at him for capturing it.

With Hogwarts still lovely and quiet since Dumbledore was not there to stir the pot, Chad had Boppy pop him over to where Fawkes was secretly imprisoned.

It had been two months, and Dumbledore had yet to appear out of nowhere to reclaim his supposed familiar, making it safe to assume he could not track the bird.

As soon as Chad appeared in front of the caged Phoenix, it started screeching, using its voice weapon to attack the person obviously responsible for its containment. Unfortunately for the bird, Chad had spent quite the amount of time designing its cage.

“Mute!” He yelled immediately cutting of any sound when the screeching started to cause him pain, the damn bird was smarter than it looked. The house-elves had never reported it using its voice to harm any of them; obviously, it had been waiting for their master to show up for a chance to attack him.

“Pain One!” Chad shouted another keyword that would activate one of the inbuilt features of the cage. The bird’s enclosure started to hum, and wherever Fawkes was touching it, arced with electricity.

A cry of agony would have let everyone know it was effective if any sound was capable of escaping the confines of the cage, all Chad saw was the bird shake a bit with its mouth open.

The Phoenix immediately tried to fly into the limited amount of space to escape the electrified ground. Unfortunately, it was almost impossible to hover in place without its wings coming into brief contact with the metal enclosure.

Another arc of electricity shot from the rune-covered cage to zap the bird into compliance, and even if flying was instinctual to a bird, it was hard to do so when being tasered. Magic negated the need for the bird to be grounded for it to be effective, giving the magical bird no defence against the electrical punishment.

Ten seconds was enough for the first lesson in obedience, and Chad called out, “Pain Zero,” to end the function that brought voltage induced agony to anything confined within the metallic prison. There were three levels of ferocity, and since a Phoenix was immortal, he didn’t have to worry about killing it.

As the bird silently cried on the floor in apparent pain, he took the time to study it. It looked more like a red and gold eagle than some mythical creature, with only its long tail feathers and abilities separating it from its mundane counterparts. If not for seeing these abilities for himself, Chad would have accused the Dark Lord of creating a forgery to further his own reputation.

“Mute off! Now, now, Fawkes, no need to be rude. If you try that again, you will receive a level two pain setting.” Chad informed the sentient bird as it regained its feet… er claws. “Do you understand?”

Fawkes gave a soft ‘cheep cheep’ and bobbed its head once.

“Good. You have been apprehended because you willingly aided and abetted a Dark Lord that has sinned many times against my family and me. How do you plead?”

Chad felt a bit ridiculous interrogating a bird, even if it was a magical creature. But if there was a small chance of gaining its loyalty, it would be worth the effort. Not that he was going to hold his breath over it joining him.

Fawkes’ bird face took on a look of anger as it cried out in protest.

“Do you deny helping Dumbledore?”

Catching on in how to communicate with its jailer, Fawkes shook its head in the negative.

“Oh, you deny that Albus Dumbledore is a Dark Lord?”

Another ‘cheep cheep’ and bobbing of its head in the affirmative was its answer.

“I know for a fact that he engineered my parent’s death and my abduction, are you suggesting he didn’t?”

Fawkes became quiet, and his little bird head turned away in defeat. Maybe Fawkes was like his faithful house-elves, overlooking Chad’s brutality in favour of his goals or out of loyalty. Even if this was the case, it would still not save the bird from Chad’s plans.

His enemies wouldn’t hesitate to kill off his house-elves for following orders, so why would he just let Fawkes go unpunished?

“That’s what I thought. Since you are clearly allied with my enemy, how are you going to compensate me for your transgressions against House Potter?” Chad asked the Phoenix, either way, he would be getting something of value from Dumbledore’s method of fast travel.

Fawkes looked at Chad in bewilderment and gave out a cry that seemed to imply ‘what do you want?’

“You watched on as Dumbledore schemed and manipulated people for at least fifty years. My parent’s lives were snuffed out at the young age of twenty-one by his own creation in Dark Lord Voldemort. My loving childhood was stolen from me and replaced with abusive captivity. You tell me how much you owe me?”

Knowing full well the bird couldn’t speak, this question was more rhetorical than Chad expecting an answer. There was certainly no way he was going to try and use Legilimency on a mythical creature made of fire!

A soft cooing of defeat was the only answer the Phoenix gave.

“Since you were content to watch on as my life was stolen from me, you shall receive the same punishment. But you have the choice of whether you will be compliant or not. Either you renounce Dumbledore and become my familiar, or remain in that cage until I die. It should go without saying that you will supply me with healing tears and a feather when needed.”

Something Chad just said must have angered the bird of fire, as it started screeching in a rage and bashing against the bars of its cage after his ultimatum. A malicious glint appeared in its eye, and it began to inhale purposely.

“Mute!”

Chad watched on as it continued to scream its impotent voice-powered attack at him.

“Pain Two!”

Fawkes started to spasm rhythmically before falling to the ground and continuing to kick its legs in a weird spasmatic dance. After twenty seconds, Chad gave the command for it to stop.

Fawkes continued to lay on the ground for a minute before it finally gathered its strength to once again stand defiantly.

“Pain Two!”

This continued three more times, the time increasing by ten seconds each sentence before Fawkes finally bowed its head in defeat. The once-proud look in the majestic creature’s eye was no longer there.

Unmuting the birdcage Chad once again addressed Fawkes.

“I see you have chosen imprisonment,” Fawkes had pleadingly cried out, but Chad dismissed him.

“Oh, now you want to become my familiar? How could I trust that you would be loyal, you just tried to attack me?! You will remain in that cage until I die, you are immortal, so it should be no great burden for you, unlike my suffering. Each day you will give a vial of tears in exchange for food, or you will be punished. We will start now.”

It took two more taser sessions before Fawkes complied, not needing much effort to cry tears capable of reviving a person from any injury, even if the person was at the brink of death.

Chad smiled as he finally held the answer to many of his problems concerning transfiguration and soul magic. But it was quickly wiped away when a sudden thought popped into his head.

Dumbledore had access to Phoenix Tears and unedited information on Horcruxes. Surely a Dark Lord as egomaniacal and manipulative as him had a back-up resurrection plan or a method to extend his life!

Did the old bastard even die in canon?