Chapter 8 a parents right.

"speech"

sound effects

"Spells"

Books, newspapers and other texts

Whilst Alexander usually looked great, well dressed and groomed, occasionally he'd look like he hadn't gotten quite enough sleep the night before, but who hadn't tried that? But as Dumbledore looked at Alexander right now could he only describe him in one way, that he looked like shit. He had bags under his eyes, his face gaunt and oddly enough his eyes had taken an indigo colour, Harry's eyes had shifted to orange with the trials reveal, a side effect of strong emotions perhaps? But just what kind of magic could do that? And did the colour mean anything? Well, these were all questions for latter, he'd have to deal with this inquiry, he had to stay in Hogwarts, he could deal with losing his place as the Chief Warlock, or the Supreme Mugwump, but he needed to be in Hogwarts to deal with the things Voldemort would certainly do to Harry.

The thing about Alexander's appearance though was that he couldn't really play to his advantage, what with him looking just as bad as him, he might not particularly like Alexander, but Harry was both a student of his and the child of two people he'd held in great regard, he hadn't slept since the troll got in, he was certain Quirrell had let it in, good thing he'd made sure that he stayed and "protected" the students.

The presence of Alexander's wife was something he found rather odd, British purebloods were rather well known for their feelings on non-humans, so her having a pair of butterfly wings on her back would certainly put the board against them, that they were incredibly beautiful wasn't something he'd bring up, for all that he may need to get some robes with those lovely mixes of purples and indigoes.

With him were Professors McGonagall, Babbling and Flitwick. He and McGonagall oversaw the running of Hogwarts, and as such also the protection of the students, their protection should be their top priority, so this shouldn't have happened. Babbling had been one of the teachers to find the troll, that she had newts in both care for magical creatures and defence gave her a useful understanding of the troll the rest of them lacked. Flitwick, beyond simply having found the boy with Sprout and Babbling, was he the teacher, except for Snape, that the boy most often interacted with, charms may not be his favourite or best class, but Agness excelled in charms and often had conversations with him after classes, students were free to join and Harry often did so.

The board consisted of 12 people, the most important ones being Lucius Malfoy, Amycus Carrow, Corban Yaxley, Augusta Longbottom, Sasha Abbot and Lazarus Greengrass. The first three were fervent believers of blood purity and were extremely unlikely to support anything related to fey, and the other three all had family members in close relations with Harry, so why would they potentially squander that relationship? Especially when it could have just as well been their family that was endangered, the rest of the board were far more neutral, but where likely to support some actions to up security, they all had family in or soon to be in Hogwarts.

Introductions were made and it was time to get down to business, he was honestly thankful that he had managed to stay calm enough to not send the Slytherins and Hufflepuffs to their dorms when the troll was supposedly in the dungeons and at that point was it just better to keep all of them in the great hall. Alexander spoke, his voice bland as he idly tapped his finger on the table they sat at. "Let us start of by establishing a timeline of events, so far as I'm aware, had Professor Quirinus Quirrell had burst into the great hall halfway through the main course exclaiming that a troll was in the dungeons, at which point it was established who was missing amongst the students and madam Hooch, Professor Sinistra and the unconscious professor Quirrell, at which point the rest of the teachers fanned out to search for the troll, this process took around 3 minutes. About 30 minutes later professors Flitwick, Babbling and sprout found Harry seated next to the troll's unconscious body covered in blood. Does anyone have something to add or an amendment to make to this timeline?" Alexander glanced at each of them, as if to challenge them to disagree with him.

His wife, Titania Unada, spoke at this point, her voice soft yet it held a hard edge. "Since we all agree on this course of events, let's get to the point of this whole meeting, namely how in the world a troll got into Hogwarts of all places." Her gaze, like everyone else's, looked onto Dumbledore, yet her ocean blue and Alexander's indigo were by far and away the most prominent ones, not only for their colour but also for the obviously hostile gazes, it might have been a decade since the war with Voldemort, but even if it had been a century ago, he'd still recognize the gaze of a killer.

With a scowl Dumbledore spoke, "I've been looking into it myself, but to summarize it, the wards are a mess. The fundamental wards, which mainly deal in the protection of the school from armies and muggles, the remainder of the wards have been built over the last millennium by the headmasters, each adding their own twist to them, does this style make them immensely difficult to break? Yes, but it also makes finding the weak point in them after it's been exploited immensely difficult." It sounded like an excuse, and partially it was but he couldn't let the public know about Voldemort surviving, everyone would panic!

It was Lucius that spoke at this point, a sneer clear in his voice as his aristocratic features twisted to a decidedly dark expression. "That sounds far more like an excuse than anything else, really for someone as powerful as yourself is that a rather pathetic excuse. You would danger the heir of a most ancient and noble house and not even compensate their guardian despite them being a respected pureblood? Truly you're an insult to all wizards." For all that his words may have been in support of Alexander, was Dumbledore certain the man wanted nothing more than to have the two of them dead, he certainly couldn't see the man supporting fey of all things.

Alexanders spoke before Dumbledore was able to respond, his eyebrows raised as he gave Dumbledore an inquisitive gaze. "You make it sound as though the Headmaster holds complete control of the wards, though so far as I'm aware the staff, in particular the deputy headmaster/headmistress, hold some control of the wards. So, simply as to raise the possibility, could a member of staff potentially have helped get a troll in?" though he didn't seem to be accusing anyone with his words, seemingly far more questioning than anything else, yet Dumbledore couldn't help but to feel like it held something more, could, could he potentially know that Voldemort had survived? But what in the world was then causing him to act like this? Unless he knew that Quirrell was being possessed by Voldemort?! But how, wait no he needed to keep his mind calm for this, it wouldn't even surprise him if Alexander was simply trying to put him on the back foot to gain an advantage.

So, he spoke. "Whilst it is indeed possible for a teacher to have played a part how a troll gained entrance to the school, though I still have the hope that I haven't misplaced my trust in any of my teachers, but if I do find out I did, can you be certain hell will come for them." He knew he looked uncharacteristically pissed, but the students hadn't been this heavily endangered since the war, so it certainly made sense for him to be pissed. The thing is though he was incredibly good at hiding his emotions behind masks, one the most useful things he'd learned from Grindelwald back in the day, and he'd certainly had a lot of time to perfect it back during the Grindelwald war, who wouldn't need the ability to mask their emotions when they were fighting their former lover?

Augusta Longbottom stared at him as she spoke, he was well aware of how intense her gaze could be, but he'd never tried being under her gaze before. "And what of professor Quirrell? The man had claimed the troll to be in the dungeons and yet the troll was found on the ground floor, this is while there are very few places a troll like that could move from the dungeons to the ground floor." Ah yes, he'd expected both of these points, thankfully he had actually prepared counters to both of those.

So, he gave his response, well to the second point. "We have actually found the place the troll got up from along with the place it entered the actual castle, that entrance has been blocked off, along with what others I knew of but believed protected by the wards, as for your first question I believe Professor Flitwick is the one best equipped to answer that part." The lovely part of this was that it was purely the truth, Quirrell, and he technically didn't know it was him even if he suspected it.

Lazarus Greengrass, the current head of the Greengrass family, even with her youth where the similarities to his daughter rather clear, his short brown hair curled rather heavily especially at the sides of his head, his eyes a light green much like Daphne, his voice was silky smooth as the words seemed to roll of his tongue. "And why exactly is it that Professor Flitwick is most suitable to speak of Professor Quirrell's actions, no offence meant to you professor, it is simply a matter that I feel would be more appropriate for the headmaster to answer." Thankfully for Dumbledore Flitwick took care of this little question.

"The short answer is that I know him rather well, beyond having been from my house had he and I often spoken back when he worked as the muggle studies professor, to the point I had come to regard him as a good friend, unfortunately had he obtained quit a bit of trauma during his sabbatical in Albania, he's mostly stable but still needs help, and is getting it with regular meetings with a mind healer. The most obvious effect of this journey being his stuttering and almost phobic level of fear for darkness." The usually jovial man was uncharacteristically sombre, he really hoped the deal he was making with the department of mysteries would come through soon enough, he'd have to make some manipulations to the mirror, it was made to capture spirits, yet as time went on it started coveting the souls of the living as well, and he'd be damned if he let a student or Quirrell die to it, the young teacher was nothing if not brilliant yet he was nothing when compared to Voldemort.

McGonagall was the next to speak, yet as she did, she seemed as though something was weighing down on her. "I apologize if this offends you lord advisor Sthewra, lady Unada, but I can't help but feel like things have always been more… interesting with a Potter around." He couldn't exactly disagree with her, the both of them had been around the school during the time a total of three and four generations of potters respectively before now, and things certainly always were more intense when one of them was at the school.

Yet despite her words Alexander laughed off all things Titania joining him in the laughter, half a minute later Alexander answered the questioning look of everyone present in the meeting. "Are you not aware of the Potters being cursed?'' Even as he spoke he had yet to fully gain control of himself, Dumbledore honestly didn't know how to feel about this, it felt oddly humanizing to see the man like this.

"Cursed?" came Yaxley's gruff voice, the man was far from someone Dumbledore would associate with, arrogant, ambitious and impatient, the man acted much as Dumbledore would expect. "So, you're telling me that the Potter heir is the reason for that Damned troll getting into the school!" The man saw an opportunity to further his personal ambitions and seized it with a greedy hand.

Yet the glare he received in return from Titania could have made better men cower, and that wasn't even tacking Alexander's own into account, and her voice seemed to hold a coldness Dumbledore had rarely encountered in his many years. "Now you're just putting words in my beloved husband's mouth, their curse can be summarized as "may you live interesting times", the curse itself doesn't actually create the scenarios, but it does make the person afflicted with it far more likely to be caught in the middle of it. From the look on your face, I'd almost assume you were more interested in your own gain, than the safety of the students." He honestly wondered if she was about to just straight up kill Yaxley, nor did he quite understand the voice in the back of his mind telling him to do so himself.

"Love." The single word from Alexander seemed to hold a lot more than he could tell, that the voice disappeared from the back of his mind and told him something, she did that, the lack of reaction from the board wasn't surprising, he was a master of the mind arts and had a difficult time ignoring it. "Yaxley, as my beloved so kindly stated, are you acting unlike how one of your stature should. Beyond that would banning him, as your reaction seemed to indicate should happen, is beyond your duties. The board may have been created to appoint headmasters not of the founders' lines, yet to ban a line is something that would require a majority vote amongst the heads of the founder lines, something impossible with the end of all four lines." He'd read that deeply into the treaties that governed Hogwarts? He knew the man had done quite a bit of digging into them, but this had been more than he had expected.

Amycus Carrow, even if far from the brightest of people, wasn't an idiot, and he could at least play the political game decently well. "I'm certain my friend here simply overreacted at the possibility that his beloved grandchildren could be endangered whilst in Hogwarts, after all who wouldn't be angered at the thought of their family being endangered."

Sasha Abbot, who unlike her daughter cared little for the opinions of others, granted he'd be far more worried if a child didn't care for them than an adult, spoke, her tone calm and controlled, if probably more forceful than necessary. "As interesting as the Potter curse may be, are we still in a meeting regarding Dumbledore's adequacy as a headmaster." Ah blunt as ever, she certainly never cared for Adrian Smith's feelings when he asked her out, that was quite possibly the most brutal rejection he'd seen before, Smith may have been an arrogant brat, but lighting his hair on fire and turning back to her breakfast without missing a beat was just mean.

Well, time to finish this lovely little hearing of theirs, hopefully it wouldn't take all too long, he really didn't want to leave Voldemort in Hogwarts alone for long.

Tap, tap, tap, the rhythmic sound of a finger hitting a wooden table echoed in what could only be described as a medical facility. Tap, tap, tap, rustle, even as the tapping went on the rustle of a book came periodically. Both sounds originated from the same location in the room, a bed to the right of the entrance inhabited by the room's only occupant, a child, a first year, Harry. He'd been stuck in the room since his battle with the troll on Thursday, was he actually restrained? No, but the look on madam Pomfrey's face was one he had seen a number of times before, mostly on his mother, but his father had held it before, no way was he going to risk that... He'd at least managed to persuade her to let him read a book, today, on Sunday, the last two days where so damned dull and he hadn't even needed some bones mended or something like that! He was only drained.

Creak, and with a rather loud sound the door opened, what Harry saw as his gaze flicked to the door caused his tapping to stop, Flitwick and his parents stood at the entrance, a conversation going on between Alexander and Flitwick as Titania neared him. She flared her flames and cast a diagnostic spell of some kind, apparently satisfied with the results she took a hold of his ear and pulled, an undignified yelp escaped his throat, and soon enough a scolding came his way. "What were you thinking, I told you to try and stay out of trouble did I not? I'm aware you take after your father, but this is taking too far!"

"Ah, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, okay please let go of my ear?" His mother always was very protective of him and his siblings, he was only thankful his grandmother didn't know, if she did, he probably wouldn't see the light of day for a couple of decades…

"Is this usual for them?" Came Flitwick's voice, the usually cheerful man sounded oddly concerned and probably gestured towards them, unfortunately for Harry he had a face full of concerned mom blocking his vision.

"Yes!" Came Alexander's curt reply, humour clear in his voice.

"Are you not going to do something about it?" Yes, please do it, this isn't comfortable. He might like hugs and physical contact but getting squished by his mother wasn't something he particularly liked.

"Would you interfere if you found a dragon cuddling its young?" The dead serious tone with which Alexander spoke sent a shiver down Harry's spine, he wasn't going to was he? Right?

"No? but what does that have to do with this?" Was he actually going to do this?

"Exactly, and just as it is better to leave a dragon to cuddle its young is it better to leave her to do the same." How he managed to make it sound like he was giving out some great wisdom Harry didn't know nor care, for he could only think a singular thing at this point, TRAITOR!

The patter of footsteps told Harry he'd been left to his fate, and it settled in at this point that he was doomed to be smothered for the next four hours, minimum.

"You know Alexander, you never did tell me what had caused you to look as you do, the little argument about how much work is too much, ended up distracting us." Flitwick's voice was nearing the door at this point.

"Ah right I didn't, but I'm a business owner on both sides of the magical divide and had the unfortunate luck of a whole lot of things pop up these past couple of days, really just-." Their voices were cut off as the door closed, and he was completely left at his mother's mercy.

Yet a few minutes later she pulled back, her face having shifted into a more serious look than she'd initially had, with a flick of her hand emerald fire flicked into existence around them. "Harry," her voice was calm and serious, just as her eyes had taken on an edge, "Get your friends out of the school over Christmas, things will be happening soon, better to get them out than leave the chance of an accident." Harry frowned, he was aware of his father's work, kind of impossible not to be when he and his sister always had a few trailing him in case things got serious.

"How far should I go to try and get them out?" whatever it was they were planning was probably better not knowing, unlike his father had he no particular love of scheming, sure he'd learn how to do it, but it wasn't something he particularly liked.

"we're planning on holding a party at Potter manor around new year, make a list together with Agnes about everyone you want at the party, have it sent at the end of the week, we'll try pulling some strings to help get them to join." She was slowly playing with his hair as she spoke.

"So, does that mean you won't cuddle me for a half dozen hour?" Harry looked up to her, as he dared to hope, only for it to be snuffed out like a candle in the wind."

"Nope" with that he found himself planted in her bosom once more.

Agnes was rather annoyed, the reason why? Dumbledore and Quirrell being at lunch, meaning neither one of them were removed despite the disaster that was the troll incident, seriously though how didn't they get fired for that?

Thwack, "Brooding won't help, besides do you really think your father didn't get anything from his inquiry? He'd at least have three votes behind him what with Hana, Daphne and Nevil all having family members on the board." Agnes glared Isobel as she spoke, was she right? Probably, didn't mean Agnes had to enjoy getting flicked on the forehead.

"Maybe, doesn't mean I can't be annoyed at the fact no direct action was seemingly made, despite the obvious endangerment of students." And she was allowed to have that opinion damme it!

"Sis, don't be too harsh on her, you know how I'd be if it was you in the same situation, and you'd in all honesty probably be worse than I if it was reversed." Morag received a pout from her sister, the two of them honestly where rather different even now was the difference rather obvious.

"Morag?" Agnes spoke here, she had something she really needed to get off her chest.

"Yes?" Morag sent her an inquisitive gaze, and she knew what she was about to say was cheesy, but it needed to be said.

"Did I mention how much I love you." Morag sputtered and Isobel did a spit take, yet before either could respond a hand was placed on her head and ruffled her hair as a familiar voice spoke behind her.

"They grow up so very fast, how do you think your mother will react to hearing you've gone this far! Agnes?" It was her father, and she couldn't help but dread what was about to come, her mother may love clomping her babies, her words, but her father, he loved embarrassing them.

But with a gulp she responded "Yes?" she shouldn't have.

"When can we expect grandchildren?" she turned beat red at this, and she wasn't the only one, Morgan was having trouble forming syllables and Isobel was doing her best impression of a fish, so rather than responding with words, she didn't even know if she could at this point, she did the best thing she could, she grabbed a plate of cheese and slammed it into his face.

As she slammed the cheese into his face, she felt a strand of mist flames pierce her defences, a message left behind, things will go down at Christmas, she didn't know what would happen, but if he informed her it was important. So, time to play the part of an angry child, thankfully for her, was she actually angry.

"IT ISN'T LIKE THAT AND YOU KNOW IT." She snarled at him and lunged, her dagger having found its way out of her sleeve as she aimed for his neck, he sidestepped it and grabbed a hold of her, one hand grasping around her wrist whilst the other her shoulder and threw her away, she landed in a roll and bled of her momentum, the cheese long vanished from his face, yet his twinkled with mischief, his indigo eyes with clear bags beneath, just how little sleep had he gotten over the last week?

"Really you else seemed rather attached to the young lady are you certain-" he was cut off as he dropped into a split, a knife flying right by his head, a knife thrown by Morag. "Really now that's rather rude of you miss, and here I thought I'd taught you better than this Agnes." She stepped up close to him, her dagger poised to pierce his abdomen as he rose to his feat once more, yet he stepped forward a hand slamming into the side of her own redirecting her strike to the air just as he went out of reach of Morag's own strike.

As he stepped passed her his hand blurred and caught a plate before placing it on the table beside him in a singular smooth motion, a smirk rose to his face and words that would haunt her for years to come echoed from his throat. "Oh, my oh my, caught both sisters eh, do try and limit yourself wouldn't want to hurt their feelings, now would we?"

Unfortunately for them someone interfered before she could attack. that someone being Dumbledore. "Lord advisor Sthewra, don't you think you've embarrassed your daughter and her friends enough?" her father hummed in response, and continued dodging her attacks as he responded.

"Ah but headmaster, i don't think you understand it's a parents duty to embarrass their children, would you yourself claim your parents had never done so? or that you hadn't to your little brother?" Oh god kill her please, did he have to speak like he was spouting of some great wisdom here?

"I'll have to insist, if not for their embarrassment then for fear of them passing out, i'm afraid that so much of their blood has gone to their heads that they may collapse." did, did he just joke about that? she wasn't really sure, but her fathers reaction certainly made her believe so.

"Indeed that would be something I couldn't stand to cause, perhaps I should finish this talk with them later." his voice was solem, yet only a single thought was held in her mind, please don't.

"Father, you know i didn't mean it that way, so would you please come here so we can talk it out." her voice was sweet and her smile strained.

"Just as I know better than to attempt and stop your mother cuddling you, I know better than to come near you right now." with those words spoken bolted, he actually ran. she stalked over to her seat a snarl on her face and a solid dusting of pink, and no she definitely wasn't brooding!

an

sorry about the chapter being late, but it's the longest chapter yet so huray?

well hopefully things i'll go better soon enough

peace

Lamablade