A/N: Hai guys! Sorry im late again *hangs


Chapter Eleven: McBadass

"I've had it with that old goat," Amelia said, sitting down in her chair with a thump. "He has more moves than a seeker, more evasions than Fudge and is more slippery than Lucius Malfoy. I swear for everything I've learned, I had five more questions."

Augusta nodded her head, taking a sip of her tea. "If I never hear the term 'for the greater good' again, it would be too soon."

The new third member of the committee, Angus Weatherspoon, who had been nominated by Minister Scrimgeour as a sop to the pureblood faction, now broke in. "If there was one consistent thought in Dumbledore's answers, it was that Mr. Potter has a significant role to play in the war with Voldemort and that he is the only one who can guide him to a successful conclusion."

Amelia remembered anew that Angus, for all of his supposed attachment to the pureblood message, was also a person who could get to the heart of a presentation or a speech very quickly and was thus not appreciated by many in the Wizengamot for just that reason.

"Did you get any answers to your satisfaction?" she asked him.

"Our Chief Warlock is very skilled in talking much, but saying little," Angus replied. "If he were a snake, he would catch his prey by hypnotizing him with his words."

Augusta snorted. "And have his prey spout back to him that his death as lunch or supper was 'for the greater good."

"He believes he is right, has no regrets for Mr. Potter's treatment because he believes his motives were pure and believes that all the current 'unpleasantness' of Mr. Potter's actions and the escalating war would be resolved if Mr. Potter were back under his control again," Angus continued.

"This despite the fact that one of our leading pureblood family's wills was ignored and now he is proposing that the second leading pureblood family's will be similarly disregarded until 'Mr. Potter is of a more sober and mature mind to take up the burden.'"

Angus had adopted the grandfatherly approach that Dumbledore had used and it was all Amelia and Augusta could do to keep a straight face. "You know, Angus, you could audition for his role if you could simply find a way to get that blasted twinkle Albus uses," Amelia said.

Frustration now crossed the wizard's face. "Dumbledore was twinkling away at us and he did not even answer any questions about the reported or rumored happenings at Hogwarts since Mr. Potter began attending there. One of my family just graduated from there and spoke to me about trolls, dragons, creatures, the stone, dead DADA professors, basilisks and the Heir of Slytherin: and those were just in Potter's first two years.

"What kind of school are they running up there? What is the truth behind those rumors and how did those events affect Potter?"

Augusta pursed her lips. "I've heard some things from Neville similar to what you've mentioned, yet Dumbledore is as slippery with those of us on the Board of Governors as he was with us on the committee today. You'll get no answers from that man.

"Instead, I think we need to ask someone else. Someone who should have been looking after the Potter boy as soon as he was sorted into Gryffindor."

"You mean Minerva McGonagall?"

"The same."

"Well, let's call her down," Amelia decided and they rose to exit for lunch.


Amelia knew Minerva McGonagall well and she could tell from the first moment she sat down in the witness stand that she was uncomfortable. It had been decided that Augusta with her knowledge of Hogwarts based on her Board role and on her role as Neville Longbottom's guardian would begin the questioning.

"Deputy McGonagall, we would like you to summarize for us the events of Halloween 1991 and a reported incident of a troll," she began.

McGonagall started at the opening statement. "Albus told me that he had given the DMLE a full report."

Amelia sucked in a breath. "An incident with a troll? This is the first I heard of it."

Augusta gently but firmly walked McGonagall through the events of that Halloween evening from the cry of Quirrell warning of a troll to discovering three of her young lions in a girl's lavatory with an unconscious troll.

"And so was there an internal investigation as to how a 12 foot mountain troll managed to make its way into a heavily warded castle and then how it wandered onto the second floor of the castle rather than the dungeons as had been reported by DADA professor Quirrell?" she asked.

"Albus told me that he would conduct the investigation personally," McGonagall replied.

"What about advising the parents of young Miss Granger of the danger that their young daughter had encountered that night? I know if my Neville had been in that lavatory and I had not been informed, I would be calling for heads by now."

"Albus said that it would cause undue alarm for Muggle parents to worry about every little detail about life in a magical castle."

Augusta was silent, giving both McGonagall and Dumbledore hard looks and she could actually see both of them flinch under her stare after a few seconds.

"And what did the investigation reveal?"

McGonagall now looked puzzled. "I don't understand. Albus informed us a few days later that everything had been satisfactorily reviewed and that there were no outstanding issues."

Looks of disbelief crossed the faces of all three committee members. Then, nodding to Augusta and Amelia, Angus asked his question. "Did anyone explain to young Miss Granger about the concept of life debts and that she owed a life debt to young Mr. Potter?"

"A life debt, Mr. Witherspoon?"

"Yes, a life debt. It was clear from your account of events that Mr. Potter risked his own life to save young Miss Granger, all prime conditions for a life debt. So I ask again: did someone explain to Miss Granger the concept of a life debt."

McGonagall bowed her head. "Albus advised me that as the magical guardian for Muggleborns in the school that he would not countenance a life debt situation as existing here."

Hermione Granger was in the upper galleries listening to this piece of testimony with a growing sense of horror. She would have to research this entire idea, but it sounded right. While Ron had only come to help Harry because Harry had asked him to, Harry was the one who had risked his life to save her's. That was all she needed: an already complicated inheritance situation, a Harry on the rampage against Death Eaters and now a life debt between her and him. She would have to consider this later, but for now turned her attention back to the testimony.

Augusta had moved on from the incident on Halloween to the detention in the Forbidden Forest. Again, she asked McGonagall for details.

"So, let me get my facts straight," she said after listening to the details. "You allowed young first year students out into the Forbidden Forest after having told these same first year students at the welcoming feast that the Forbidden Forest was just that: forbidden. All to help your grounds keeper hunt down something that was killing unicorns out in the forest?"

McGonagall nodded. "I did not determine the actual detention. Our practice is to allow teachers to determine what the detention should be and Hagrid had volunteered to take the recalcitrant students on that night."

Augusta nodded, albeit unhappy with the answer. She was familiar enough with the policies of detention at Hogwarts to know that each teacher had a great deal of freedom to set out the types and severity of detentions that they would use.

"Another incident which Miss Granger cites in her article in both the Prophet and the Quibbler relates to the first Quidditch match in which Mr. Potter played as Seeker," she continued. "Did you have a perspective on what happened and what may have caused it?"

"All I remember seeing was Mr. Potter on his broom suddenly jerking around and even at one point appearing that he was going to fall off. I know a number of us were preparing to fire cushioning charms to ensure that if Mr. Potter fell from his broom that he would not be injured in his fall," McGonagall replied.

"So no investigation was made to determine what could have caused that incident?"

"No," she said in a low voice.

"Let's go onto the end of the first year, the incident that Miss Granger spends some time on in her article. What interests me and the fellow members of our committee is why you responded to the three young first years who came to you with worries about the Philosopher's Stone as you did."

"I wanted to allay their fears and tell them that things were under control. They were only first years and they were not to worry about it. Our protections were strong and if any wizard or witch tried to come forward for the stone, they would have been trapped."

"And yet, those same three first years were able to penetrate those formidable defenses and young Mr. Potter was placed again in a position of having to fight for his life. That makes at least three at my count."

Augusta could see Dumbledore start at her statement. Got you, she said to herself even as she saw Dumbledore's reaction had not gone unnoticed by the other members of the committee. No, she would not like to be in Dumbledore's shoes right now.

"So, if I can summarize Mr. Potter's first year correctly, he faced a mountain troll to save a young classmate, but no one knows how it got into the castle. He faced a creature capable of killing unicorns as a form of detention in a place where students were forbidden to go. He almost falls from his broom and no investigation is made as to how this occurred. And finally, he with two friends, one of whom is here in this hall, attempted to warn you of an attempt on an object you were guarding and you did not pay any attention to them.

"Did I miss anything?"

Seen as that summary, even McGonagall could see the pattern here. Mr. Potter was facing life and death situations and no investigations were made or conclusions shared with others on staff as to why these things were occurring. Only Albus knew about them and he would only twinkle at her and others when questions would come up.

"We could explore the second year," Augusta continued. "The entire controversy of the Heir of Slytherin, the petrification of students including young Miss Granger again and these reports of Mr. Potter confronting and killing a 60 foot basilisk: all these appear to be items from a fairy tale, not the reports one would expect from Britain's premier magical school for our young children.

"Do you have any comments on these incidents? Why were Miss Granger's parents not informed about the petrification of their daughter for a period of time? Why was the DMLE not informed on the existence and killing of a basilisk, a restricted creature that adult witches and wizards would face with great preparation?"

Dumbledore took that moment to rise. "The internal affairs and security of Hogwarts has always been the purview and responsibility of the Headmaster of Hogwarts. Members of this committee, the events in question have been investigated and resolved. The students and children of our world …."

Amelia stood up, spitting fury. "You sanctimonious old fool. The students and children of our world are just that…our students and our children. You are the Headmaster of Hogwarts, granted, but that is a position of trust that we extend to you so that you will look after our students.

"But, in addition, Chief Warlock, you had your opportunity to answer our questions. We are now questioning Deputy Headmistress McGonagall in her role both as Deputy and in her role as Mr. Potter's Head of House. So we must ask you to sit down or we will ask you to enjoy the hospitality of one of our cells in the DMLE.

"Do we have your cooperation?"

The look on Dumbledore's face was fury as well and the twinkle was long gone, but he stiffly nodded and sat down again.

"Deputy McGonagall, when Headmaster Dumbledore had been dismissed from the castle, why did you not call the DMLE at that time with the continued reports and in regards to the whole situation," Augusta began again after the hubbub of conversation in the committee room subsided.

"I …believed that Albus would take care of it," she replied. "I only moved to shut the school down when Miss Weasely had been taken into the Chamber and was missing."

"Still not contacting the DMLE even then?"

"No, events were moving so quickly by then and Albus had reappeared and taken charge of things again."

Angus then broke in. "So there was no investigation as to how the Chamber of Secrets had been reopened and no investigation of the rumors that Miss Weasely had been possessed by a dark object and guided to open the Chamber?"

"Albus said that he had taken care of that as well and that issues were as resolved as they could be," the Deputy Headmistress answered, definitely now looking sick.

Amelia thought she could understand what the older woman was going through. The questions being asked by Augusta was establishing a picture of a Deputy Headmistress who did not investigate issues that threatened the security and well being of the school; and a Head of House who did not stand up for her students. Instead, what emerged was a blind faith in the Headmaster and a sense of being lost when the Headmaster was not present.

McGonagall also came across as a passive actor rather than a proactive head of house. But Amelia wondered if any of the current heads of house, with the exception of Snape, were strong proponents for their students.

Still there were two major questions which had yet to be explored with Minerva and while Amelia did not enjoy dragging her erstwhile friend through the questions, it was critical to establish the level of care or lack of care that Harry Potter had enjoyed as a Gryffindor and a student at Hogwarts. She had already counted at least four major attempts on Mr. Potter's life in the first two years of his sojourn at Hogwarts and the events of the last two years were more of the same.

Augusta had picked up the thread of her questions. "Let's skip to the events of Mr. Potter's fourth year, Miss McGonagall, and more specifically to the evening of Halloween 1994.

"I believe this was the selection of the champions by the Goblet of Fire. Could you detail for us your recollection of those events?"

The attention of the room was now riveted and silence reigned as McGonagall detailed the selection of the first three champions and then the surprise addition of Harry Potter. She then recounted the meeting in the adjoining room where Barty Crouch had told the judges, Bagman and the professors that as Potter's name had come out of the Goblet that he was under an unbreakable magical contract to compete.

"Did this not concern you, Deputy? Did you think that Mr. Potter would be able to compete on an equal level with students who were three years his senior?"

McGonagall's face radiated both pride and shame at this point. "You must understand that by this time I believed that there was little that Mr. Potter could not do. Chasing 100 Dementors in his third year; killing the basilisk in his second: I thought and confess that I believed that he had really put his name into the Goblet.

"I believed that he really wanted to compete."

"Did he look like someone who wanted to compete?"

McGonagall's voice grew soft and low. "No. He looked frightened, even terrified."

"And why did you not call the DMLE again to investigate the entire affair?"

"Albus told me that he was hoping to smoke out whoever had entered Mr. Potter's name into the Goblet. He told me he believed that Mr. Potter had not entered his name, but that someone had done so with a view to doing him harm."

"And no one thought to inform him that if he had not entered the tournament willingly, that he could appeal to the Ministry or the DMLE and have a magical tribunal pronounce on the applicability of the magical contract, did they?"

"Albus told me that Mr. Potter had agreed to participate to help find out who had put him in."

The look of disbelief on Augusta's face was echoed by the other two committee members. They felt for the proud deputy headmistress: her credibility was being shredded here. But Augusta had two more questions to ask.

"Minerva," she said gently. "We realize these questions are opening up thoughts that appear to be uncomfortable for you. We are almost through with our questions.

"During Mr. Potter's fifth year, when Delores Umbridge was DADA professor, we understand Mr. Potter came to you in regards to detentions then being given out by Umbridge. Do you recall what you told him?"

McGonagall swallowed and then said in an even lower voice. "I told him to keep his head down and not incur the detentions if possible."

"Why would you tell him this?"

"I already explained about the detention policy of the school and that no one would interfere with the detentions assigned by another professor. The only person with the authority to do this would have been Headmaster Dumbledore and he had already made it clear that he wanted some distance between Mr. Potter and himself."

"Was this what you wanted to do?"
"No!" she said in a vehement tone. Her words were now pushing out from her

with a rush. "I did not want to do this.

"I wanted to protect Mr. Potter. He was the child of two of my favorite lions and when I saw for the first time coming to Hogwarts, I could scarcely believe my eyes. This small, shy child wearing clothes several sizes too big the child of Lily and James Potter?

I was livid and angry.

"I had told Albus that they were the worst sort of muggles. You can't spend a day with a family without having an idea of how people really are and I knew that while they might be relatives of Lily's, they were the worst sort of muggles.

"But when I took my concerns to Albus, he told me that he was pleased with the progress that Harry had made and that things were proceeding as they were meant to. He told me to maintain a distance between myself and Mr. Potter: that it was important for Mr. Potter to realize his destiny.

"And it was only when I read Miss Granger's articles in the Prophet and the Quibbler that I realized that I had done Mr. Potter wrong. Instead of the care and protection he would and should have expected from me, I had kept him at arm's length.

"I had rejected the child of my own favorite children."

By this, McGonagall had risen in her seat to face Dumbledore. His face had gone white at the force of the words she was addressing to him.

"You deceived me. You deceived many others. You took the child of James and Lily and turned him into an isolated, lonely and now clearly suicidal child who is finally finding his purpose in confronting the demon who has been haunting his life.

"You are the one who is the dark lord in his life, not Voldemort!"

Before anyone could react, Amelia brought the gavel down. "Committee hearing adjourned."


A/N: Well? What did you guys think? Like it, hate it? Tell us so we know! But don't flame. Flames, as you should all know, will be used to make food for ourselves and the non-flamers.
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