The Stubborn Old Headmaster
by Teddylonglong
All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story.
I am not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes.
COMPLETELY AU! Partly OOC! Dumbledore bashing!
It is my story, and I intend to write it the way I want it. If you don't like it, don't read it.
Reviews are very welcome, as they inspire my muse. Thank you so much for your kind reviews for the previous chapter!
'Harry, where are you?' Severus mind thought to Harry.
'I'm so sorry, Dad,' Harry thought back, trying hard not to make a sound. 'It's all my fault.'
'What is your fault?' Severus asked in genuine surprise.
'That Felix is sick. A voice told me that it could happen, but I didn't want that, and I'm so sorry.'
'Harry, Felix being sick is not your fault. Please come here and talk to me. Felix only has a cold, which happens to small children all the time, and it's not your fault. It has nothing to do with what happened this afternoon.'
'Are you sure that it's not my fault?' Harry asked, hopefully.
'I'm not only sure, I'm positive that Felix's cold is not your fault,' Severus replied firmly, sighing in relief as Harry slowly made himself visible right next to Felix.
"Harry, what are you doing? Do you think it's the right time to play making yourself invisible?" Minerva asked incredulously, causing Harry's eyes to fill with tears.
"Harry seems to believe that it's his fault that Felix has a cold, which of course isn't," Severus quietly explained to his wife. "Minerva, do you want to take Felix with you into your bed?" he then added, knowing that she always let the boys sleep in the parents' bed if they were sick.
"Well yes, but on the other hand, he's in such good hands here with Harry," Minerva replied, hesitantly, sensing that her oldest son needed the reassurance as a full family member and older brother. "Harry, don't you mind having your brother here?"
"Of course not," Harry gave back, feeling very reassured at the trust his mother seemed to have in him. He lay back, sighing in relief.
"Harry, in that case I want you to take a dose of Pepperup potion to be sure that you won't get sick as well," Severus spoke up in his soft silky voice, handing the boy a small phial, glad when Harry gulped it down without making a fuss.
"All right my dear, sleep well and call for us if you need us," Minerva said as she tucked Harry in and placed a kiss on his forehead, before she gently wiped Felix' flushed face with the cold cloth Harry had provided for the little tyke.
"Minerva, I'll follow you in a couple of minutes, I'd like to have a few words with Harry," Severus quickly filled her in, before she left the room, nodding her agreement.
"Harry, would you like to show me the memory of the voice that spoke to you?" the Potions Master queried, carefully casting the Legilimens spell when Harry nodded and turned his eyes to look straight into his father's. "That was Dumbledore," he told his son, pulling back out of his mind a minute later. "You know better than to listen to that old fool, Harry," he said softly, gently brushing an errand strand of hair from the boy's forehead.
"Thank you, Dad," Harry whispered in apparent relief. "Good night."
"Good night, son," Severus gave back, observing in relief that a small smile played on Harry's lips as his breathing evened out.
"Why in the world is Harry so quick to believe everything is his fault," Severus mused aloud as he lay down in his own bed next to his wife.
Minerva let out a long sigh. "It's probably still the after effect of his time with the Dursleys in combination with those of Dumbledore's attacks. He always felt guilty because he thought he'd endanger all of us," she replied softly, nestling into her husband's arm.
ハリーと頑固な校長先生
A few weeks later, Harry was just helping Felix to complete a huge floor puzzle of Hogwarts, when his parents announced they had to speak with him about something.
"Harry, this is still a secret, and you may not mention it to any of your friends, what we're going to tell you now. Can you promise to keep the secret?" Severus queried in a stern voice, causing Harry to nod anxiously.
"Of course, Dad," Harry assured his father in surprise.
"In the past, Hogwarts often held the Triwizard Tournament. It's a tournament between Hogwarts and two other magical schools, Beauxbatons and Durmstrang. In the tournament, each of the schools' champions will compete against each other. However, these tournaments often were so dangerous that students died or were otherwise harmed, and therefore, they were terminated more than a hundred years ago. Only now, the headmasters of the three schools have agreed to revive the tradition and hold a Triwizard Tournament at Hogwarts during the upcoming school year," Minerva explained to a stunned Harry.
"Wow, that sounds interesting. How many students of each school are going to participate?" Harry queried with obvious interest.
Severus let out a sigh. "Harry, there'll only be one champion for each school, and there's an age restriction, because the participation is so dangerous. The champions have to be seventeen years old. However, I believe that it will be interesting for all students to watch the champions compete and to support their own school's champion."
"Sure it will. I wonder, who'll become the Hogwarts champion," Harry said in excitement.
"The so-called Goblet of Fire will choose the champions from those, who chose to enter their name," Minerva informed him.
"Now Harry, there's a reason for us telling you this now instead of along with the rest of the school," Severus carefully began to relent the news to his son, of which he knew that he wouldn't approve it at all. "Because of the tournament, all the Quidditch activities will be cancelled this school year. There won't be a Quidditch cup this year, nor will you be able to carry out your Quidditch tournament within Hogwarts and with the three other schools."
"Ah all right," Harry sadly accepted the news, absentmindedly putting the clock tower into Felix' puzzle. "That's a pity, but well, we can't do anything about it, and I'm looking forward to the tournament."
Actually, Harry did not have much time to miss the Quidditch tournament, because the Triwizard Tournament was indeed a lot fun, and the school year passed in a blur. The students got along well with their foreign classmates, and even the teachers were able to make friends with their colleagues. To everyone's complete amazement, Hagrid announced his engagement with Professor Maxime, the headmistress of Beauxbatons, at the end of the school year.
Cedric Diggory, who was the champion for Hogwarts and received all of his schoolmates' support, won the tournament to the school's absolute delight.
"I can't believe that the school year is already over," Harry groaned between two bites of his dinner at the leaving feast. "Next year, we have to study for our OWLs; that won't be so much fun."
"The OWLs are harmless, Harry. What do you expect us to say?" Fred queried, raising an eyebrow at his younger friend.
"Exactly, we'll have to take our NEWTs next year," George added.
"Maybe you should begin to study for once," Hermione stated coolly, throwing her friend a comforting look. "Don't worry, Harry, if you consider that those two managed to pass their OWLs, we'll certainly be able to do so as well."
"That's true," Harry gave back, chuckling.
ハリーと頑固な校長先生
One day during the summer holidays, Charlie Weasley and his soon-to-be seventh-years twin brothers joined the teachers for dinner.
"Hagrid has an announcement to make," Tom told the others, who were just beginning to eat, surprised as to why they were having guests in the middle of the summer holidays.
Hagrid cleared his throat. "As you all know, Professor Maxime and I are going to marry in a few weeks' time. We decided that from now on we want to live together with my little brother Grawp in the forest." Trying to fight back the large tears that were welling in his eyes, he continued, "Charlie Weasley will take over my position as Care of Magical Creatures Professor, while Olympe and I have plans to build up a magical circus."
Ignoring his colleagues' collective gasp of surprise, he explained, "The headmaster just agreed to allow us to use the Hogwarts grounds for four weeks each summer in order to conduct shows, which the whole magical world will be able to watch. We're going to have our first show next summer, and if everything goes well, Fred and George have already promised to join our staff next summer after they finish school in order to train with the animals."
"What kind of animals are you going to train?" Sprout enquired, kindly.
"Unicorns, hippogriffs, thestrals, owls, phoenixes if there are any..."
"I'll ask Fawkes if he would like to help," Severus offered, smirking.
"Perhaps I could participate in my phoenix form as well," Harry spoke up in excitement, causing Gryffindor to grin.
"Tom, Harry, and I could have a show together either in our Chameguise forms or some other form," the Founder suggested, causing Hagrid to sigh in relief.
"Thank you so much, headmasters and Harry. I'm sure we'll be able to set something up with your help," he said gratefully, tears running down his cheeks. "We'll also have one dragon, which Charlie promised to help with," he mumbled in a barely understandable, teary voice.
ハリーと頑固な校長先生
In spite of not being as eventful as the previous school year, for Harry his fifth year was an extremely busy school year. Every evening, he met with his friends in their study room, only leaving for a few minutes for Felix' bed time in order to read his three-year-old brother a bedtime story, before he would once again return to the fifth years' study room to join his friends until curfew.
One day, Harry was extremely tired. After curfew the evening before, he had still spent two hours organizing the Quidditch tournament, discussing the dates with the headmaster and writing letters to the responsible persons at the other three participating schools. When he was sitting at breakfast, tiredly pushing his food around the plate, all of a sudden Ginny's voice penetrated his thoughts.
'Harry, what's wrong? Are you ill?'
'Good morning, Ginny,' he thought to the girl, who was sitting a few seats down the Gryffindor table. 'No, I'm fine; I'm just a bit tired. I was up too late organizing the Quidditch tournament.'
'Harry, is there anything that I could help you with?' the girl queried. 'Since I'm on the reserve team, I could assist you as well, if there's anything I could do.'
'Would you really do that?' Harry replied, thoughtfully, feeling too tired to resist the offered help. 'Last night, I decided on all the dates for the internal and external Quidditch matches, and I need to make announcements and put them on the walls in all the common rooms and study rooms. Could you perhaps...'
Noticing that Harry hesitated, Ginny offered, 'Shall I make the announcements and put them up for you, Harry?'
'Maybe I should ask Teddy fist, because he is my Co-captain, but he's a fifth year as well and won't have any more time to spare than I do,' Harry mused, before he replied, 'I'd appreciate that very much. If you don't mind helping with that, I'll give you the dates at lunch break.'
Over the next few weeks, Ginny did most of the organisational work concerning the Quidditch tournament, and with Teddy's agreement Harry made the fourth-year their second Co-captain.
During the winter holidays when most of his friends had gone home, Harry all of a sudden noticed just how much he always enjoyed the red head girl's company. 'Well, at least we can mind think to each other,' he tried to console himself, glad that Ginny was not as shy as himself and often initialized their silent conversations.
'Hello Harry, and Merry Christmas,' Ginny's voice penetrated his mind late on Christmas Eve when Harry had just retired to bed.
'Hello Ginny. Merry Christmas to you too,' he replied, feeling very happy to hear his friend's thoughts. 'Are you having a good time at home?'
Ginny sighed. 'Yes, although I'm always fighting with Ron. He's horrible. Can you imagine that he is jealous of everyone? He's still jealous of you because you're my friend, jealous of Charlie because he's a teacher at Hogwarts now, and jealous of the twins because they're spending their holidays in the forest with Hagrid and his wife working on the circus with them.'
'Oh right that's right, I met with them on Sunday afternoon. We went to visit them, and they put on a little show for us, demonstrating how far they already got with their training of the magical animals. It was really interesting,' Harry replied excitedly.
They talked for a few more minutes, before Harry suddenly had an idea. 'Ginny, would you perhaps be willing to go on a date to Hogsmeade with me on our next Hogsmeade weekend?' he queried hesitantly, causing the girl to smile.
'Yes Harry, I'd love to go on a date with you,' she replied softly. 'Do you already know when the next Hogsmeade visit will be?'
'No, I've no idea, but I'll ask my parents. They may have already set the date for the next visit and I'll let you know when it is,' Harry replied, happily.
"The next Hogsmeade visit will be on Valentine's Day," Minerva informed her son when he questioned his parents at breakfast the next day, as he excitedly told them that Ginny had agreed to go on a date with him.
"Congratulations Harry, I'm glad that you have a date with such a nice girl," Minerva acknowledged the fact, giving her oldest son a proud smile.
Unfortunately, Harry's happiness about his first date did not last much longer than a week. Right after the Welcoming feast at the beginning of January, which Harry spent sitting at the Slytherin table between Blaise and Draco, Draco took him aside. "Harry, I urgently need to speak with you. Can I come with you to your room for a moment? In fact, I'd love to have your father there as well."
Harry shrugged. "Well, my father probably won't come home until after his house meeting," he replied, thoughtfully. "Let's run after him and ask him quickly."
"Is whatever you wish to tell us important, Draco?" Severus asked, slightly impatiently, and, seeing his godson nod, led the two boys in the small chamber beside the Great Hall, casting a silencing spell at the door after they all entered the room.
"My father told me that he and Rodolphus Lestrange plan to attack Harry and the elves that attend Hogwarts on the next Hogsmeade visit, and he instructed me to inform him of the date as soon as it was announced. My father intends to or has already founded a league against the elf rights and is trying to convince people in the ministry that elves shouldn't be allowed to attend Hogwarts. I made him believe that I was on his side, which I'm of course not. I'll inform you as soon as I have any other news."
"Oh no," Harry groaned, "and Uncle Tom just announced the next Hogsmeade weekend for Valentine's Day. Dad, what are we going to do?"