Disclaimer: Pomona Sprout belongs to JK Rowling.
Chapter 4: Sprout
The Keeper of the Keys
"Hmm, cliffhanger ending," Filius mused.
"Well, no reason to stop now," Umbridge said. "Professor Sprout, I believe you're next."
Pomona sighed and said, "If I must." The day was pretty much shot already, and it wasn't like things could get much worse—for Hogwarts or for the unfortunate Mr. Potter. She took the book and turned straight to the next chapter. "Chapter Four: The Keeper of the Keys," she said. "BOOM." Actually, that was kind of fun.
Hagrid burst into the hut, upending the Dursleys' quiet little world forever. Oh, he was perfectly polite, despite tying Vernon's rifle into a knot, but he was also eleven feet tall, and his sheer bulk made everything he did a big disruption. Harry was completely clueless as the giant of a man wished him a happy birthday, lit a fire with magic, and started cooking sausages.
"Excuse me," Umbridge interrupted. "I don't believe you're qualified to perform magic, Hagrid."
"Well, I, er…" Hagrid stammered.
"Please make a note, Mr. Weasley," Umbridge spoke over him. "We don't want someone so irresponsible in a position of power at Hogwarts, do we?"
"Irresponsible?" McGonagall said. "Honestly, Dolores, any first-year can light a fire. A bit of harmless bending of the rules especially in a potentially dangerous situation in nothing to worry about. Anyone else would get a slap on the wrist for a good deal worse."
At the Gryffindor Table, Hermione was shocked at her favourite teacher being so cavalier about the rules (despite not following them much herself lately). Most of her friends were grinning. Go, McGonagall, they thought.
"Oh, we'll see what Mr. Hagrid is truly capable of very soon, Professor McGonagall, don't you worry," Umbridge said with a smile. "By the way, why was Hagrid sent at all? Aren't you the one who usually does student visits?"
"The Headmaster thought sending Hagrid was appropriate," McGonagall said uncomfortably. "I wrongly believed that Mr. Potter would be aware of magic, so I did not think it would be a problem."
"But wouldn't the need to send literally hundreds of letters to Mr. Potter reveal the flaw in that thinking?"
"I'm afraid you'll have to take that up with the Headmaster—if you can find him."
"Oh, we will. And Hagrid, did Dumbledore explain to you why you were to find Mr. Potter and not Professor McGonagall? You did know he was not receiving his letters, after all."
"Well, I'd known Harry since he were a baby," Hagrid said. "Nothin' bad would happen ter him with me around. Besides, Dumbledore thought I'd be more intimidatin' if there was any trouble."
"Ah, I see, and let's see how that worked out, shall we? Professor Sprout, please continue."
Pomona gave the Groundskeeper a sympathetic look. Sorry, Hagrid, she thought, and she kept reading. Unfortunately, the conversation devolved as Hagrid forgot his politeness in his fury at the Dursleys keeping Harry in the dark about everything. Not that the Dursleys were helping matters.
"'We swore when we took him in we'd put a stop to that rubbish,' said Uncle Vernon, 'swore we'd stamp it out of him! Wizard indeed!'"
Students and teachers alike gasped. Rarely did wizards actually encounter a magic-hating muggle in real life in this day and age, and Vernon Dursley fulfilled all the worst stereotypes. To try to stamp the magic out of someone wasn't just abuse, and dangerous, it was almost sacrilege.
"Mr. Weasley, Auror Shaklebolt," McGonagall said, "I do believe another arrest warrant is in order. If we have to listen to this, we might as well get some good out of it."
"I'll…I'll submit everything for review," Percy said. Harry noted with some satisfaction that he was looking more and more uncomfortable up there.
Pomona quite agreed with that sentiment. Petunia apparently hated her sister and thought she was a freak, and she took it out on Harry, which raised further shouts of indignation from the Great Hall. The majority of the school was cheering Hagrid through the scene, but Hermione saw trouble coming.
"Harry, I think she's gunning for Hagrid, too," she whispered.
"How? He did a little bit of magic and yelled at them some. What's so bad about that?"
"Wasn't there something about him giving your cousin a pig's tail?"
"Well…"
"He could get in a lot of trouble for that if she plays it up," Hermione insisted, "and I hate to say it, but she has a point about him being the wrong person to send."
"Hagrid's great, though," Harry protested.
"He's a very good friend, Harry," Hermione said, "but you have to admit, he's not exactly the best person to introduce you to the magical world."
Harry thought about this for a minute. There were some definite gaps in what Hagrid had told him, not least about how to get on the Hogwarts Express, and he couldn't legitimately show Harry magic like he was supposed on a home visit. Maybe he wasn't the best choice. He felt it even more acutely when Hagrid began his clumsy explanation about the war and the fate of Harry's parents. (Pomona felt oddly proud of herself when she had less trouble saying Voldemort's name than Umbridge had.) Harry had been so shocked at the time and so desperate for any information about his parents that it was more than enough for him just to know, but looking back, Hagrid had left out a lot. Heck, he hadn't even known Sirius existed until he escaped from Azkaban.
"And there's another thing," Hermione pointed out. "Why didn't anyone check on you for those ten years? Why didn't Dumbledore keep better track. I mean, it's like Umbridge said—ugh—but she's right: he at least knew you weren't getting your letters that week. Why didn't he do something more proactive about it?"
Harry thought about this for a minute and was forced to come to the same conclusion. "I hate to say it, but that's a pretty good point," he admitted. "Even if they thought I knew about magic, I still wasn't getting my letters. Why didn't they suspect something?"
"I think we need to add it to the list," she said, and she quickly scribbled out some new questions:
5. Why did no one ever check on Harry at the Dursleys?
"They did, though," Harry corrected. "Mrs. Figg was there."
"Oh, that's right." She scribbled out the question. "But then…did Dumbledore know you were being mistreated there?"
Harry's mouth dropped open for a moment. "I—She…said she was a mean babysitter because she knew the Dursleys wouldn't leave me at her house otherwise. Bloody hell, he did know! At least some of it."
"That's horrible!" Hermione hissed. "I mean, that actually is illegal—or at least it should be."
"What, you're taking the Ministry's side now?" Ron said too loudly.
"Shh. Ron, I'm bloody well not on Fudge and Umbridge's side, but if Dumbledore really was breaking the law—"
"But we need Dumbledore, though," Ron countered. "He's the only one You-Know-Who's afraid of."
Hermione worried her lip in indecision. Ron was right: they did need Dumbledore. But with what he might have been doing…"We need to get to the bottom of this," she whispered. "Something is definitely rotten in the state of Britain, and it goes deeper than Fudge." She tried to articulate her questions again:
5. Why was Harry placed with the Dursleys (known magic haters)?
6. Why was no action taken on reported mistreatment of Harry?
7. Why was Dumbledore so obtuse about Harry's letters, including sending Hagrid?
They were interrupted from their thoughts, however, when Sprout began shouting the capitalised words in the book: "'I AM NOT PAYING FOR SOME CRACKPOT OLD FOOL TO TEACH HIM MAGIC TRICKS!' yelled Uncle Vernon."
There was loud jeering and shouts of indignation from many of the students at the insult against Dumbledore, but Pomona raised her hand before they could cause too much trouble with Umbridge. She glanced over and saw Hagrid looking murderous at the memory alone. Everyone fell silent, waiting to hear how he reacted.
"But he had finally gone too far. Hagrid seized his umbrella and whirled it over his head, 'NEVER—' he thundered, '—INSULT—ALBUS—DUMBLEDORE—IN—FRONT—OF—ME!'"
And then he gave Dudley a pig's tail.
The students laughed. Even Pomona couldn't help but chuckle, but her danger sense was twigging. She turned and saw that Umbridge looking smug again, and that was not a good sign.
"My, my, giving him a pig's tail," she said in her simpering voice. "And by his own admission, trying to turn the poor boy into a pig. Remind me, Minerva, at what level is human transfiguration taught?"
Minerva groaned quietly and answered, "Sixth Year."
"And Hagrid, in what year were you expelled from Hogwarts?"
Hagrid mumbled something unintelligible.
"I'm sorry. What was that?"
"I said Third Year," he growled.
"In other words, you were far from qualified to attempt that spell, even if you were allowed the use of a wand. Minister, this is more than a simple case of muggle-baiting. This was a serious assault. Hagrid could have done permanent harm to the boy doing magic like that. And as we will see later, it was also a breach of the Statute of Secrecy, as the Dursleys were forced to inform their muggle Healers about their son's condition in order to correct it. Even muggles wouldn't be so foolish as to miss something like that."
"Yes, that's it!" Fudge said. "Dumbledore's been covering for you for years, Hagrid. That ends today. Shacklebolt! Arrest him!"
Many of the Gryffindors stood up and protested. Fudge and Umbridge had been losing control of the room for a while. It was only Minvera and the other Heads of Houses that were keeping it together, and Pomona was starting to wonder whether it was worth it.
"I WILL. HAVE. ORDER," Umbridge yelled shouted, which was only partially effective. However, the other Heads halfheartedly acted to silence the crowd.
Kingsley stood up and surveyed the scene when they had quieted down. "That would be ill-advised, Minister," he said as calmly as you please.
"Why?" Fudge demanded.
"One Auror against a half-giant? Even if he doesn't have a wand, that's a fool's errand."
"Then go get a squad and come back for him—"
"Oh, no you don't!" Hagrid roared. "You're not takin' me, yeh great lump!" He bounded from his seat, "accidentally" knocking Fudge's chair over on the way, and stomped out of the Great Hall, fleeing for the Forbidden Forest over the shouts of the other teachers and students.
Fudge looked stunned as he got back to his feet. "Well, what are you waiting for?" he snapped. "Get a squad and go after him!"
"He'll be deep in the Forest by the time I get back, Minister," Kingsley said. "He knows the place better than we do. We'll never find him in there. If you like, when Dawlish returns, you can send him to fetch an increased guard to make sure he does not return. However, you called me here to act as your bodyguard, and I see no reason to run off on a wild Niffler chase."
Fudge's mouth opened and closed a few times, unsure what to say. Finally, he stammered out, "Oh, fine. He's gone; that's the important thing. One more thing we can fix up about this place. Well, go on. Keep reading, Professor."
Pomona shot a nasty glare at Fudge, but she was pretty well stuck. She looked out at the students. Many of them appeared to be in shock. First Dumbledore and now Hagrid gone in the space of one morning. She frantically thought back to try to remember if there was anything she'd done that she could get in trouble for—or Minerva, or Filius. Severus…well, she wouldn't admit it out loud, but getting rid of Severus would be an improvement. With no other option, though (at least none that would let her keep her job), she had to keep reading.
"'Be grateful if yeh didn't mention that ter anyone at Hogwarts,' he said. 'I'm—er—not supposed ter do magic, strictly speakin'.'"
"Tsk tsk," Umbridge cut in. "Conspiracy with Mr. Potter to cover up his lawbreaking…"
"I…" Pomona quickly skimmed the last couple paragraphs in the chapter. She had to do something. Umbridge was going after Harry now. "Now wait a minute, Professor Umbridge," she said. "According to the book, Mr. Potter never actually agreed to cover up Hagrid's actions, nor did he have any legal duty to report him."
Umbridge exchanged a look with Fudge, who looked disappointed, and with Percy, who gave them an apologetic shrug. "Fair enough," Umbridge said. "We'll have much more to learn about Mr. Potter soon enough."
"Phew, that was close," said Hermione.
"Yeah, remind me to thank Sprout when this is over," Harry agreed. He was starting to have second thoughts about this whole thing.
