[Location: Department of Mysteries Director’s office. Present: A. Dumbledore, J. Crane.]
DUMBLEDORE: Well.
CRANE: Well.
DUMBLEDORE: I suppose it could have gone better.
CRANE: ‘Better’.
DUMBLEDORE: I would label it an overall success.
CRANE: Success? Success? I was an unmitigated disaster.
DUMBLEDORE: [smiling faintly] Oh, now I would say it was at least somewhat mitigated.
CRANE: Enough games, Albus! This is no laughing matter.
DUMBLEDORE: Oh, I assure you, Judas, I am not laughing.
CRANE: To hell with you. To hell with you and your damned school. Two agents in as many departments under investigation. Records across the Ministry and the press. A literal body of evidence.
DUMBLEDORE: Now, now. That has been transfigured.
CRANE: Ah. Another bone, eh? How many times will you play that little trick?
DUMBLEDORE: As many times as it works.
CRANE: God. Bloody hell. We’ll be doing paperwork for weeks. And shredding it for months. The memory work alone –
DUMBLEDORE: I find a clear mind to be an essential resource after such distressing events.
CRANE: To hell with you.
DUMBLEDORE: Judas! You’re becoming intemperate.
[Pause.]
CRANE: I’m putting an end to it.
DUMBLEDORE: [Pause.] You must not.
CRANE: We aren’t on your grounds, unfortunately. I will not take orders.
DUMBLEDORE: Then take reason. You call it a failure. For the DMLE, perhaps. But for us? Think of the boy. Think of what he has achieved. What he believes he has achieved.
CRANE: To hell with the boy and his achievements.
DUMBLEDORE: To hell with the boy? You’ve lost your way, Judas. The boy – the boy is all that matters. The boy and – well, the other boy. The boy in Albania.
CRANE: Ah. Yes. [Pause.] We’re terminating that too.
DUMBLEDORE: Terminating? My dear Judas, it cannot be terminated. It has begun.
CRANE: By this time tomorrow, news will hit London that Gage is dead.
DUMBLEDORE: A pity. Another friend lost. But Gage – Gage is merely a pawn. Or a bishop, I suppose. Disposable all the same. What has begun in Albania is beyond our control. There are forces awakened now much older and powerful than any office in London. But you know that. [Laughs.] You’re a skilled occumens, Judas – but I’m afraid you’re no match for my legilimency.
CRANE: [Smiles.] You call my bluff. Fine. Of course it isn’t terminated. ‘Operation Iscariot’. Too fine a code name to drop it. Albania continues. I’ve given it to Greengrass.
DUMBLEDORE: [stroking his beard] Do you think that wise?
CRANE: To hell with wisdom. This is intelligence.
DUMBLEDORE: I suspect you’ll be taking Bode from me.
CRANE: You suspect.
DUMBLEDORE: Will you send a replacement?
CRANE: [grinning] Oh yes. I’m keeping my eye on you, Albus. I’ll send a replacement.
THE PENSIEVE PAPERS 