Harry Potter Wishing for a friend
Chapter 2
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I don't own the Harry Potter verse. Just playing.
Thank you for your kind reviews.
This story started as a one shot but it seems to have taken a life of its own.
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Dumbledore is a Manipulative Old Fool who believes he alone knows what is best for everyone in His greater good. Molly, Ronald, Draco and Lucius are just being themselves. Getting louder and angry when they don't get their way.
01/06/13 02/10/12 11/07/12 revised and a big thank you to my beta.
Chapter 2. Meanwhile in the headmaster's office.
In another part of the castle there is a large office full of old dusty tomes, and with a lot of weird looking gizmos, doodads, thingamabobs, doohickeys and whatchamacallits, twirling around or puffing smoke. There were also lot of loud angry voices, a tired manipulative old wizard, a bemused phoenix, and a very old battered hat that was very pleased with itself. Fergus had not had so much fun, and caused this much trouble for the manipulative old fool since he sorted Sirius Black into Gryffindor with Remus Lupin, James Potter and Lily Evans. Thinking of the Marauders brought back memories of good times and a tear to his eye.
Professor Severus Snape was there with had a petition signed by every single Slytherin student to purge and expunge Ronald Bilius Weasley from the most ancient and most noble house of Slytherin just based on how much food the boy ate, and the stomach churning way he devoured it.
Professor McGonagall was there because she feared that Draco Lucius Malfoy would not be safe in Gryffindor with his extreme bigoted racist attitude.
Lucius Malfoy, father of Draco and a school governor of Hogwarts with very close connections at the Ministry of Magic, was demanding a full investigation into why his son was treated it such a shameful way, and would have threatened to curse everyone if he was not afraid of Headmaster Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore.
Molly Weasley, mother of Ronald, was just yelling over the top of everyone demanding the headmaster do something, and just put her Ronald into Gryffindor where he was supposed to go.
Everyone was yelling at the same time, but no one was listening. It had been going on for half an hour, and the headmaster now had a splitting headache. So he drew his wand, fired a noise maker spell, and cried "Silence!"
But no one heard him or took any notice. So he fired two double charged noise makers, and yelled, "Silence!"
Everyone stopped mid scream, and turned to Dumbledore.
Dumbledore cleared his throat, and motioned to Severus Snape. "Severus, why don't you go first. I am sure we can reach an agreement that will make everyone happy." Dumbledore said with his blue eyes sparkling as he tried to regain control.
Severus smiled a little sneer at the redhead harpy. He took a deep breath and started his rant. "Headmaster, I will not tolerate that … that … boy in my house! He ate ten times more than Crabbe, and Goyle then fought them for the desert! His table manners are worse than a Cerberus! Half of the house was sick just by the sound that he made, and by how much half chewed food that fell out of his mouth in the process!"
"How dare you!" Ranted Molly.
"He is not exaggerating Molly! We all saw it!" Minerva said to stop the redhead from starting her ranting again. She never thought that she would ever say something to defend or support Severus. But Molly had that effect on others.
An equally surprised Severus looked at Minerva and nodded a thank you. Then turned back to the headmaster. "I have here a petition signed by every Slytherin student to have him evicted! In one meal sitting, the whole house has united to have him thrown out. In all my years of teaching here, I have never seen this happen before!" Snape said angrily and firmly.
"Nor have I!" Fergus said to add his cup of petrol to the fire.
"But, he is just a growing boy," Molly yelled defensively.
"I would hate to see what he grows into." Snape shot back with a sneer.
Minerva chimed in, "In that case, I do not want him in Gryffindor, Albus!"
Molly was speechless. Everyone was expecting all the Weasleys to be in Gryffindor. Minerva jumped in before Molly could recover, and started to talk about Draco. "And Draco's bigoted mouth has already got him into the hospital wing! He verbally abused all of our muggle-born witches and wizards! The house of Gryffindor has united against him! I have given him detention every night for the rest of this year for his own safety, he cannot stay in Gryffindor." She had never seen her lions react so quickly.
Dumbledore turned to the old battered sorting hat. He saw a little grin on the hat, and knew it did not like him, or what he had done to the school, but it was for His greater good. Then in his best grandfather voice, "Fergus, why did you put young Mr. Malfoy into Gryffindor?"
The old hat snorted, and replied in a gruff voice. "The boy has not the brains for Ravenclaw plus is too indolent and torpid for Hufflepuff! The fact that he doesn't think for himself shows he lacks the cunning for Slytherin; however, he is very obedient to his father, has the bravery to attack a whole house of lions with only his mouth, and that's why I have sorted him into Gryffindor. I could not put him anywhere else. He is the perfect Gryffindor. It is just a pity that you tolerate his racist, bullying bigotry, and his bad attitude. You have done nothing to stamp that out."
Lucius was livid, and injected his ravings, "This is an outrage! I will lodge a complaint with the board, and I am withdrawing Draco from this pathetic school and sending him to Durmstrang! When will he be able to travel home?"
"He can go with you now," Madam Pomfrey answer as she and the moaning boy entered the office. With a giggle she added. "He just needed to learn how to Scourgify his underwear." Madam Pomfrey was elated to be rid of the pompous malinger.
Lucius grabbed Draco hand, and drug him home. Lucius had not wanted Draco to go to Hogwarts because he was too much of a pansy; always crying out to his father to fix the latest stupid mess his big mouth had gotten himself into. He only hoped Durmstrang would teach him some cunning.
Dumbledore cheered up with the sight of the Malfoy's leaving, and hoped he could get Lucius kicked off the board. He was always getting in the way of Dumbledore's greater good.
- Wishing for a friend -
Dumbledore turned to the sorting hat for information on the Weasley boy. "Fergus my dear friend, why did you put young Ronald into Slytherin? All the Weasley children have been in Gryffindor, and everyone knows they are supporters for the light."
He had given Ronald a very important job. All his plans depend on Ronald befriending Harry Potter, and keeping him isolated from everyone else. He knew Harry had not been told how to pass through the barrier to platform 9 ¾, Molly would find him waiting outside there; she would cast a loyalty charm on him to follow Ronald, and would do everything Ronald told him to do. Dumbledore was not looking forward to the meeting he needs to have with Molly and Ronald to find out what went wrong.
The old hat snorted then spoke his mind. "The boy has not the brains for Ravenclaw. He is far too lazy for Hufflepuff, and due to his reaction at the sorting clearly shows he doesn't have the bravery for a true Gryffindor. But, he is extremely Machiavellian, very cunning, arrogant, bigoted, selfish, greedy and a bully. If he was not so lazy he would be the perfect spy. He is nothing like his older brothers. He is a Weasley in name only. His mind is so much like his mother, Molly Prewett, an ideal Slytherin."
"How dare you." Molly yelled.
"Molly Prewett! You threaten to burn me if I did not sort you into Gryffindor instead of Slytherin where you belong!" Fergus snarled back.
"I did no such thing!" Molly lied red faced, and Arthur was wondering what was going on.
Dumbledore needed the boy and the Weasleys for his plans. In one day Ronald had failed him, and turned half of the school against himself. While everyone was yelling at each other at the start of this meeting, he was reading the boy's mind and was shocked to see the lazy selfish bad attitude Ronald had. Beside still being hungry, Ronald believed that working for the headmaster would allow him to slide through Hogwarts without trying or making any effort. That the headmaster would just make the boy-who-lived his best friend, fix his grades, make him Quidditch captain, prefect and head-boy without him doing anything or lifting a finger. Even win the Quidditch cup for him somehow. He was the great Albus Dumbledore after all.
Dumbledore knew he was standing on his last leg, and hated his weak position. He went cap in hand, and pleaded to the old hat, "Fergus, the boy needs an education. What can we do?"
Fergus advised, "The best I can do is resort him next year. Take the boy, and home school him. For Merlin sake teach him table manners, how to respect others, to work hard, and above all teach him how to be a Weasley!"
"I think that is the best idea." Arthur spoke for the first time cutting off Molly before she lost that chance. Arthur realized something was very wrong with his youngest son, and he had to find out what. He only hoped a year would be long enough to fix this problem, and maybe even undo whatever Molly had done to his youngest son. The hat's comment about Molly and Slytherin had him worried. He will have to have check Ginny to see if she is like Ronald, and then maybe himself.
Dumbledore was not happy to lose his agent, but from what he had seen in one day it was probably for the best as he had never seen anything like Ronald Bilius Weasley. He will have to find someone else to control Harry for him.
Ronald finally realized that he was going home, and he had failed Dumbledore. He had already spent his first weeks pay, and Dumbledore has not paid him yet! Angrily he yelled, "But what about my mon..."
Molly slapped her hand over his mouth, "It is alright, Ronniekins. You can have a snack when we get home." Molly tried to cover his mouth, and pushed him out of the door.
Arthur was suspicious now. He wondered what was happening here. Why was Ronald talking about money? He decided to send Bill an owl when they got home, and ask him to check into it.
Minerva, Severus and Poppy remained in the office with Dumbledore. They were at a lost to understand what had just happen. But the headmaster seemed to be somewhat satisfied with that result. They left the headmaster's office thinking that this was the strangest start of term ever. Never had a student been withdrawn because of they did not like the sorting. Let alone two.
- Wishing for a friend -
Dumbledore rubbed his eyes. He had a lot of thinking to do, and change his plans. It will be a long night. He needed information on Harry's sorting. All the years Harry had spent with the Dursley's should have prepared him for Gryffindor. He wanted to know why it had not gone to plan, so he questioned the old batted hat, "Fergus, dear friend. Why did you put Harry Potter in Ravenclaw? I just assumed he would be in Gryffindor like his parents?"
Fergus gave it straight to Dumbledore with a twist. Even if he was cutting it fine with his student sorting confidentiality. Harry was one of the bravest souls he had ever sorted, and his soul mate was the other. They needed knowledge, understanding, and wisdom. Putting Harry in Gryffindor to be Dumbledore's sacrifice to his Greater Good, would doom them all. "The Dursley's had beaten the Gryffindor out of Harry; Ravenclaw was more suited than Slytherin. It was the best match for him." The Hat answered with a straight face.
"Oh." Dumbledore replied. 'Oh dear.' Dumbledore thought to himself. His plans needed Harry to be a true Gryffindor like the Malfoy boy; to be very obedient, to rush into danger without thinking or asking the right questions. A Ravenclaw Harry would be too clever to be guided down the path of his Greater Good.
Fergus decided to question the headmaster as he had dared to question him, and his job of sorting. "Why is Mr. Potter and Mr. Weasley so important, headmaster?"
Dumbledore did not want to share his precious secrets with the hat so he fobbed him off. "He is the boy-who-lived. Everyone expected the hero of the magical world to be in Gryffindor." Fergus was not surprised at Dumbledore's arrogance to just fob him off. To Dumbledore, the hat was a pain in the ass that could not see his Greater Good. He had not been able to get rid of the hat. No matter how hard he tried.
The hat pressed on. "And Mr. Weasley?"
"Oh well everyone expected Mr. Weasley to be in Gryffindor because his parents and older brothers being in that house." Then he added, "I think I will turn in. Goodnight Fergus." Dumbledore wanted to avoid any more questions that the nosy hat might have. His mind was already racing, and working out a new plan. After setting his monitoring wards, he went to his private quarters.
- Wishing for a friend -
But, Dumbledore had underestimated the hat. Fergus already knew Dumbledore's plans, and had made his own. He had to protect Harry, and he was very concerned that Dumbledore was prepared to sacrifice the school, and the children for his greater good. Even if that meant Voldemort and his death eaters destroying school, and murdering the children in some future final battle of Good versus Evil.
Phase one was complete. Harry was with his soul mate; the hat had got rid of that bigot of a ferret, and destroyed the Malfoy's plans. Getting rid of the loudmouth jealous bottomless pit saved the house elves and the kitchens, and was an added bonus to the hat. All of Dumbledore's plans for this year were in ruins, and he had never enjoyed himself so much. Fawkes had watched the whole thing, and thought the hat was brilliant. Upsetting Dumbledore had really made his day.
- Wishing for a friend -
The four founders were concerned what would happen to their school after them, so they combined their mind, heart, spirit, magic, and made Godric's coiffure into Lord Fergus Gryffindor, the master and High Steward of Hogwarts. The hat had been given the courage of Gryffindor to do what's right, the wisdom of Ravenclaw to work out how to do it, hard working and loyalty of Hufflepuff to stay true to the founders, and the cunning of Slytherin to hide in plain sight. But, to generations of witches and wizards, he was just a sorting hat.
Hogwarts was loyal to the hat. The hat was loyal to the headmaster so long as the headmaster was loyal to the founders. But, Dumbledore and his greater good had created a conflict of interest, and the hat had judged Dumbledore unworthy to be the headmaster. Dumbledore was still a powerful wizard, but his time to go was coming.
- Wishing for a friend -
There was a lot to be done tonight, and Fergus knew asking questions to get Dumbledore to share his secrets was the quickest way to get him out of the headmaster's office. He quietly called Papa the head house elf. The elf popped in, and neutralized Dumbledore's wards by silencing the room.
"How is the castle settling for the night?" Fergus asked.
"Milord, the first years are very excited, but very tired. They will soon be asleep. The other years are settling down well. The disturbance the redhead boy caused in the kitchen has exhausted the house elves. They thought they were feeding a troll. They are very thankful that you had the boy sent home." Papa said.
"Good, good. And Harry and Hermione?"
"I have assigned Ally to care for, and chaperon them. She said that they are asleep in their dorms, but they are restless."
"Yes that would be expected. They both have had a lonely childhood, and need support from each other. Has their magic started to bond them?"
"Yes. But it is slow at first. They are still young."
"Good, but now they have met; their magic will draw them together. Their restlessness would bring back their old fears, and give them haunting nightmares. If they need to be kept together we can put them in the Ravenclaw Suite in the Founder's quarters. Ally, is she the old Potter elf?"
"Yes. She will take very good care of young Harry and his soul mate. I am still disgusted what whitebeard did to her son Dobby. That was a heartless thing to do, giving him to the Malfoys." Papa shook his head in disgust.
"It was not the worst thing whitebeard has done. We can thank Merlin that the ICW had moved their meeting forward to start tomorrow. We can do a lot in the two weeks he will be away. Could you request Broadface to bring the Black and Potter estate account managers with him the day after tomorrow for our finance meeting?"
"Yes Milord. Will there be anything else?"
"Yes could you please check where Ronald Weasley's rat is? I don't believe that it went home with him. When you find it, stun it and bring it here." Fergus asked.
"Milord." Headmaster Dippet's portrait called out. "The portraits report the rat is in the corridor leading for the dungeon."
"Thank you, Armando." Fergus said.
Papa calls for Trippet, asks him to go, find, stun the rat, and bring him here. Trippet returns two minutes later with a stunned rat in an unbreakable cage.
"It has been done Milord. Will there be anything else?"
"Thank you. Could you call Ally here please?"
Papa calls for Ally, and she reports about her godchildren. She is very concerned about Harry. He looks abused, and malnourished. There was some very dark magic behind his scar, his magic has been bound, and he has a number of tracking, monitoring, and memory charms on him.
Fergus asked Ally to move Harry and Hermione to the Ravenclaw Suite in the Founder's quarters so he, and Fawkes can inspect what damage whitebeard has done to Harry.
Ally goes, and carefully moves the restless sleeping Harry, and Hermione, and puts them together in a large bed in the Ravenclaw suite of the Founder's quarters. Their restless sleep settles down once they are in each other's arms. Ally sits in a chair nearby, to keep watch over them. They will need a good sleep for the next day.
- Wishing for a friend -
After Ally left, Headmaster Dippet's portrait continues his report. "Milord. The portraits report that Professor Quirrell is having an argument with the back of his head, and is losing."
"Yes, I was expecting that. I sensed an evil presence with Quirrell when I was in the great hall during the sorting. A presence that I have not felt for many years. It looks like Tom Marvolo Riddle has returned to Hogwarts. If whitebeard had not interfered with the wards, that evil creature would never have set foot in here again." Fergus replied. "What was the argument about?"
"Apparently, Quirrell is upset about almost getting caught breaking into Gringotts to steal the Philosopher's Stone." Armando continued.
"Breaking into Gringotts? That's impressive. I am sure the Goblins will be very angry about that. I believe we have gotten our first break. Riddle has ordered an attack on Gringotts. We will need to help the Goblins find out who it was that attacked them. After whitebeard goes, we will have to gift wrap Quirrellmort for the Goblins." Fergus said with a grin. A golden opportunity had presented itself.
- Wishing for a friend -
"Also Milord, the greasy bat is feeling remorse. He has been talking to himself about Harry, the grief he feels about the death of Lily Potter, and that it is his entire fault." Armando continued.
"As well he should." Fergus said. "Whitebeard used him to tell part of the prophecy to Riddle, and set up the Potters as bait. This is good. We can use that. If we play our cards right we could get rid of the bat too. And as they all work here for Dumbledore. We might just get the hat trick, and get rid of them all."
- Wishing for a friend -
"Milord, what is special about the rat?" Armando asked.
"The rat is Peter Pettigrew, the wizard who really betrayed the Potters. He was their secret keeper, and led Riddle straight to them. Later, he framed Sirius Black for their deaths. Whitebeard used that to throw Sirius into Azkaban without trial so he would have total control over Harry, and the Potter fortune. As Sirius is Harry's godfather, he should have raised him. The rat was in the Weasley boy's pocket, and I was able to read its completely open mind when I sorted the boy." Fergus explained and added. "Whitebeard was very proud of that brilliant piece of Machiavellian manipulation that left him holding the baby. In one play, he eliminated the Potters, and Black, and gave himself the magical guardianship of Harry. He would reminisce how brilliant he was for hours. When he thought no one was listening. I had always wondered how he did it, and the rat has filled in the missing pieces."
- Wishing for a friend -
Ally returned to the headmaster's office with her son Dobby. "Milord, I told Dobby that Harry Potter was here, and he came for a visit. He is very concerned about the dark magic behind his scar." She said, and pushed Dobby forward to speak.
"Milord, Dobby is very afraid for the great Harry Potter. Dobby has felt the same very dark magic in a jewel crown in the come, and go room." Dobby said very nervously, and very afraid. The hat thought there was more but knew Dobby was unable to say it, so he reached out, and read the elf's mind. He recognized the long lost diadem of Ravenclaw, and more, a diary hidden in a secret place under the dining room at Malfoy manor.
"Thank you Dobby, Could you please, go get the jewel crown, put it in an unbreakable sealed box, and bring it here? Be careful not to touch it." Fergus said to calm the elf. Dobby returned with the diadem in the box. "Good work Dobby. Please place it with the rat in the secret Athenaeum where whitebeard will never find it."
The hat thought about this information. He knew from the sorting that Harry has a Horcrux behind the scar, and Dobby has found two more. He will have to read Quirrellmort's mind to find out how many of those evil things he has made, what, and where they are. He could not wait for whitebeard to go, and wear his other hat at the ICW meeting.
"I think that is all we can do today. That was very good work from everyone. Please pass on my thanks." as the Hat said goodnight. There was so much for them to do.
- Wishing for a friend -
As the hat was sorting Draco and Ronald, he saw the plans they had each been given for Harry. Lucius had instructed Draco to befriend Harry so that they could present him to the dark lord. But, Draco could not find him. Ronald knew Dumbledore had set up Harry to be collected by the Weasleys. But, the Weasleys were late because of Ronald, Molly could not find Harry to cast the loyalty charm, and Ronald failed to find Harry on the Hogwarts Express.
When the hat was sorting Harry, he took his time, and saw all the terrible things that the headmaster has done to the boy, and the very hard, sad, lonely childhood Harry had because of Dumbledore's manipulations and scheming. It reminded him of another sad lonely orphan from so many years ago. Dumbledore had not learnt from history, and now he was doomed to repeating it.
The Hat saw Harry's memory of this morning. Harry couldn't find the way onto platform 9 ¾, and Hagrid had forgotten to tell him. He noticed Harry had sat down, and wished for a friend with all of his heart. While Harry's eyes were closed, the hat felt that slight compulsion that caused Harry to lift up, turn his head a certain way, and open his eyes. The hat saw Harry seeing her, his soul mate, for the first time. The hat felt Harry fall in love in that very moment, but could see that Harry did not understand what he was feeling. But, Harry was so thankful. He just knew that she was his one true friend. She even asked if she could be, and that hug. Wow!
Then everything changed for Harry, who had always been unloved, ignored, rejected, abused and bullied. Suddenly, nice, kind people wanted to be his friend, first Hermione's parents, the first adults. Then Neville, Cedric, Susan and Hannah were added to the list.
The hat wondered about that slight compulsion. It had been a very long time since he had felt such a compulsion. It could only mean one thing. The-powers-that-be had granted that wish, and gave Harry, his soul mate. Fergus knew if the powers-that-be were getting involved with Harry and Hermione, something big was about to happen. With the mess Dumbledore has made of things, it will need to be really big.
It was very easy to decide which side to be on, and the Hat decided then and there to add Hogwarts to that list. Hogwarts needed to have Harry as a true friend, and Harry needed Hogwarts as a true friend. Harry had not realized how truly blessed he was to have so many friends, just by making one heartfelt wish.
Fergus smiled. This could be fun.
But, anything could be better than Dumbledore's damn Greater Good.
- Wishing for a friend -
The-powers-that-be was glad that Fergus had noticed her handy work, and decided for Hogwarts to join team Potter. He will come to realize who else is on Harry's side, and that Merlin had nothing to do with the rescheduling of the ICW meeting.
One wish was going to change everything.
And it will be fun if she has anything to do about it.
