Chapter 45

EDUCATIONAL DETOUR

The Order of the Phoenix convened a few days later in Greenane Castle to discuss a matter more interesting than the usual pointless status updates.

"The purpose of this meeting is to inform you that Severus has disappeared without leaving any messages behind," Dumbledore announced, looking severe until he once again popped a sherbet lemon into his mouth.

I looked from one member of the Order to the next, curious about how they reacted to the news. Unsurprisingly, not a single one of them seemed to consider Snape's disappearance a great loss.

"I can only assume he was summoned by Voldemort, but what happened then, I cannot say. I fear Voldemort has found some evidence about Severus's true allegiance."

"Or, more likely, he has learned everything he needed from Snape and has ordered him to stay with the Death Eaters for some plan that will start shortly," Moody said dryly. "The Azkaban escapees have already had almost two months to recover. Whatever the Death Eaters are planning, it will happen soon."

"I am convinced that Severus is on our side," Dumbledore insisted. "Let us hope the situation is not as bad as the concerned mind easily thinks."

Afterwards Dumbledore talked with me about educational matters again.

"Madam Pomfrey and I have been substituting as the Potions teacher after Severus went missing, but this arrangement cannot continue for long. Professor Umbridge is already very eager to terminate Severus's contract of employment so that she can hire someone loyal to the Ministry as the new teacher."

"It seems inevitable," I said. "But what damage could another Ministry loyalist cause in the four months that are still left of the school year?"

"I would not like to find out," Dumbledore said. "Anyway, it is not just a question of politics, but the safety of the students. Potions is a dangerous subject, and if Umbridge hires a new teacher with merits in bureaucracy rather than Potions, the number of injuries will no doubt increase to the level of much less renowned schools. Such development would, in turn, serve as an excuse for the Ministry to take Hogwarts into even tighter control."

"If you document all Potions related injuries, it might serve as the reason to flush Umbridge out. Parents will be angry if the safety of their children is jeopardised because of petty politics."

"Minister Fudge is not a reasonable man, and he will find a way to blame me," Dumbledore said. "Another matter that needs to be solved quickly is the position of the Head of House Slytherin. At the moment the only Hogwarts teacher who was in Slytherin during her school years is Umbridge. I am not going to give her any more power."

"You aren't suggesting that –"

"– you should be the replacement for Severus as the Potions master and the Head of House Slytherin. Yes, I am. Your NEWT performance in Potions was Outstanding, and if, hypothetically, you were teaching Defence Against the Dark Arts as an unofficial remedial teacher, you would also have some teaching experience. Why would I look for a new teacher from elsewhere when a suitable candidate is so close?"

So, for the second time Dumbledore wanted me under his wing. At least this time there was no curse to be concerned about, and the position of the Head of House Slytherin made it much more appealing. Also, Karkaroff had already taught me most of his magical expertise with obvious martial applications, making the Legilimency sessions less important and interesting than they had been.

"All right, I will take the job, but there's an important condition," I said. "I agree with Moody that the Death Eaters will most likely start some new activity soon, and when it happens, I will focus on the war, not teaching. That's why I will agree to become the Potions master only until summer holiday."

"Fair enough, I accept the condition," Dumbledore said. "Come, let us return to Hogwarts and get the procedures over with."

We did so, and I thought with slight amusement about the irony of the situation. Throughout history, it had been common for usurpers to kill kings and Dark Lords in order to take their place. Even though teachers were much more common than kings and Dark Lords, it surely was rarer for someone to kill a teacher in order to take their place. But was it not just what I had done?

I was quite optimistic that these three months of teaching would not become too tedious. Snape had made very meticulous curriculums for each of his twelve classes, and I had no need or desire to change them – except, of course, by increasing the number of potions that I wanted to stockpile for the war. Marking homework and exams was the part that I did not look forward to, but a clever person could find a creative solution to the problem.

When I returned home, I found Karkaroff in my library, reading books and making notes of the things he was going to teach me next.

"There's going to be a change to our daily routines," I said. "Get ready to mark some Potions papers!"

I had heard so many horror stories about Professor Umbridge that I was actually quite excited to meet her for the first time – but my excitement evaporated the instant I entered her office. The overwhelming excess of the colour pink was so offensive that it eclipsed even the Valentine's Day arranged by Gilderoy Lockhart which I had, to my eternal regret, seen in Harry's memories. In the middle of the pink awfulness, Dolores Umbridge, Senior Undersecretary to the Minister and High Inquisitor of Hogwarts, was sitting at her desk and frowning at me with vast disapproval. She gave the impression of a pink thundercloud that was about to incinerate me with an adorably fluffy bolt of lightning.

"Professor Valedro, please, sit down," she said in such a high-pitched voice that I was tempted to suggest her a Sore Throat Potion with a permanent effect. "You can't expect me to be pleased that the Headmaster hired you without consulting me at all!"

"Would consulting you have resulted in a different choice for the replacement of the Potions master? My NEWT grade in Potions is Outstanding, and I'm a former Head Boy. There are few as capable potion makers in Britain, and I think the previous Potions master might have been the reason for that. Other qualified people choose more satisfying and better paid jobs as Healers, Aurors or entrepreneurs."

"Do not be naive, young man," Umbridge snapped in a superbly condescending way. "Hogwarts is going through major changes, but the staff is very unwilling to cooperate with the Ministry. Dumbledore obviously wanted you to a teaching position only to complicate my reforms."

"Really? Why do you think I would support him?"

"You know that very well indeed. You were the Triwizard champion for Hogwarts. According to Dumbledore, you witnessed something that he later used as the basis of his propaganda. And where were you afterwards when the Ministry needed your help in silencing the rumours that sow fear and discord across Britain?"

"I am from New Zealand, I went home after graduation. I returned to Britain only recently, and it was a pure happenstance that I learned of Hogwarts needing a new Potions master."

Umbridge leaned forward, her eyebrows furrowing.

"And what have you to say about Dumbledore's propaganda? Are you going to tell your students imaginary tales about your encounters with undead Dark wizards?"

"No, I'm going to tell them about potions. But if you're interested in what happened after the final task of the tournament, let me tell you this: Harry Potter and I did witness a flashy ritual and the appearance of a snake-man similar in appearance to the Dark wizard who terrorised this country for a decade until 1981. However, it was Dumbledore's conclusion that the snake-man was, in fact, that particular Dark wizard. I, on the other hand, immediately told my Slytherin housemates my own conclusion: that Dumbledore had arranged the entire thing. Harry Potter is obviously traumatised by what happened to his family, and Dumbledore tries to use his fame as a marketing trick for his propaganda."

Umbridge's expressions had changed from stern to angry to neutral. When I finished, she nodded in an almost approving way.

"Very well, Professor Valedro," she said. "I see that you are not as easily fooled as the Headmaster hopes. The Ministry would like more people to have such a doubtful approach to the tall tales that authority figures with political motivations are spreading."

I could not have pointed out the gargantuan proportions of the irony of what she had just said, so I did not even try.

"I will, as the High Inquisitor, be inspecting your work in the Potions classes. However, keep in mind that the Ministry does not tolerate any mutinous activity. Educational Decree Number Twenty-Six prohibits teachers from giving students any information that is not strictly related to their subjects, and I am making sure that this decree is followed. This school does not need any more distractions."

"Of course," I said. "Dumbledore is already an old man, and this school and the Ministry will remain long after he is gone. I pledge my loyalty to institutions rather than individuals."

Umbridge almost smiled as she sent me away, but I did not think for a moment that I had managed to convince her. She just tried to make me let my guard down.

It was probably time to visit the Chamber of Secrets again and have another try with the magic stone that Voldemort had used to create the curse affecting the Defence professorship. The Runic and Arithmantic foundations of the curse had been far above my expertise, but after Karkaroff had taught me so much about Runes and Arithmancy, I might be able to make sense of it.

Almost two years had passed since I had found the anchor stone of the Hogwarts wards in one of the side caverns of the Chamber of Secrets. It was far from enough time to learn to understand something as complex as the amalgamation of the spells that Salazar and Voldemort had created. However, I did not give up, but studied the magical design night after night, made notes, checked reference books and sometimes sent some of the most confusing parts to Karkaroff to decipher.

Finally I managed to reverse-engineer Voldemort's craftsmanship onto a parchment, and I knew exactly how he had repurposed Salazar's spell. As I had learned from Salazar's memories, the original purpose had been to store magical power flowing through the nexus of magic beneath the school for a trap to be used against the prophesied Dark Lord born to those without magic. If my assumption was correct, Voldemort was the Dark Lord, and if so, there would be massive irony in the fact that the very one against whom Salazar had designed his spell had redirected the spell to strike another victim instead.

Unlike Voldemort's curse, the original trap was not in action all the time, but it had a trigger, possibly a command word, for activation. I pondered it for a long time, and eventually I admitted that I did not know what the trigger might be. I was in no hurry and decided to study the matter more with the help of advanced books.

"It was arrogant of your brother to tamper with Salazar's spell," the Basilisk hissed. It had become much livelier after having had something to eat and it often watched my doings to entertain itself.

"I will not remove his spell yet," I said. "Currently it is working to remove a certain teacher from the school, and I assure you, she deserves to get dispatched. Salazar would have approved."

The more I had to interact with the High Inquisitor, the more I hoped Voldemort's curse would strike her soon. Not only did I have to endure her annoying lectures, complaints and veiled threats in the staff room, but in class as well. She seemed eager to catch me of some violations of her policies, because she kept inspecting the Potions lessons several times a week. She clearly did not consider my participation in the Triwizard Tournament a merit at all, because she seemed to think it proved I had a militant way of thinking, and such an attitude was fiercely frowned upon in 'her' school.

"I told your predecessor that the Ministry would prefer it if the Strengthening Solution was removed from the syllabus," she said. "Why do you think these children need to know how to brew it?"

"So that they'll be able to brew it," I said, too taken aback by her dumb question to realise in time what she had in mind. "Um… it gives an advantage when playing Quidditch…"

Umbridge scribbled furiously on her clipboard while some students snickered.

"The Ministry does not approve encouraging children to cheat," she told me with a false smile.

She asked paranoid questions during my other lessons as well.

"Potion of Salamander's Essence? I hardly think it is useful. How do you think these children would end up in a situation where they should be protected against fire?"

"Fires happen all the time. If they get into a fight and someone throws an Incendio –"

I stopped too late. Umbridge looked almost gleeful as she wrote about my violent imagination on her clipboard.

Even some objectively innocuous potions made her suspicious.

"Blood Replenishing Potion? Our peaceful nation has no need for them, I'm sure!"

"Actually, Madam Pomfrey asked me to give her the best samples because her stock is running out."

For the next inspection I prepared a smart reply in advance – too smart, as it turned out.

"Bone Mending Potion? You really seem to be preparing these children to recover from a serious injury!"

"You can't even get into the Healer training programme without brewing this one perfectly! If you think Britain doesn't need Healers, why don't you suggest to your boss that the Ministry cut the entire budget of St Mungo's?"

That was the moment when I learned that Umbridge did not like it at all when people got involved in politics.

But my seventh-year class was the worst. I knew all of the students personally, and a few of them even had copies of my Potions notes that I had multiplied with the Doubling Charm before my graduation and distributed to younger students. We could have delved deep into the vast potential of Potions, but Umbridge was having none of it.

"Polyjuice Potion?" she asked. "Why?"

"It is a challenging potion that requires patience, precision and understanding of the theory of this subject," I said, having finally figured out how to evade her traps.

"Please, tell me, what military applications does Polyjuice Potion have?"

What a devilishly Slytherin question! I could either not answer and be judged incompetent, or give her a detailed list and be judged unsuitable to work as a teacher. Well, incompetence was something I did not tolerate at all, and I refused to even play the role of an idiot.

"It is the best method of subterfuge," I said. "Unlike disguising charms, Polyjuice Potion cannot be dispelled except with very complex enchantments. The downside, obviously, is that you always have to keep drinking the potion to keep the appearance. It may cause suspicion if you regularly keep drinking something you have to keep a secret from everyone. However, a clever person can find ways of not attracting special attention. For example, our previous Defence Professor Alastor Moody has a habit of only drinking from his own flask. If someone was to impersonate him, the potion could be hidden in the flask, making the constant sipping inconspicuous. With Polyjuice you could pose as an enemy, infiltrate secret meetings and get easily to an assassination distance without being stopped. You could even replace enemy commanders. I would consider Polyjuice even better than, say, using the Imperius Curse on the Minister for –"

"Such hideous spells must not be spoken of in the presence of impressionable children!" Umbridge shrieked.

"All these students are legal adults. Besides, they already know everything about the Unforgivable Curses. Professor Moody told about them to everyone!"

Luckily, at that moment the bell rang and I could not complicate my career until the next inspection. However, I was sure it would take place very soon.

While Umbridge made my job as the Potions master difficult, I continued taking care of her responsibilities as the de facto Defence Professor in the Room of Requirement. Every evening I watched from above how students from all Houses worked together and tried to outmanoeuvre the opposing groups, and I wondered what it would take to storm the Ministry and usurp Fudge. Aurors and Hit Wizards would surely be reluctant to use serious force against children. Was that the actual reason the use of child soldiers was considered a war crime? No one wanted to face an enemy they had moral qualms to strike down.

Harry had become one of the best fighters in the study group, but his Occlumency training was progressing much more poorly. After a frustratingly long time he had learned to notice my intrusions and then to flood the mental connection with indistinct memories. However, whenever I invaded his mind in a more subtle way, I was able to bypass his protections. No doubt Voldemort would be able to do the same.

It did not help at all that we both were really interested to see more glimpses from Voldemort's mind. In March Harry saw a brief vision in which Voldemort and Rookwood exchanged a few words about the Department of Mysteries. The vision confirmed that Broderick Bode had been put under the Imperius Curse in order for him to obtain something from the Department for Voldemort. Harry's scar did not hurt anymore, removing the obvious discomfort of the visions, and while this kind of spying was intriguing, the new vision meant that we had accomplished almost nothing after so many lessons.

"Do you think I'll ever be good enough at this?" Harry asked me.

"I don't know what to think," I said honestly. "I have no idea how many wizards who practice Occlumency are able to master the art perfectly. And I also have no idea what 'good enough' even means with you. Voldemort is surely one of the most powerful Legilimens in the world, and he is willing to use enough force to shatter you protections even if it means destroying your mind in the process. But if I understood Dumbledore correctly, his main concern at the moment is that Voldemort might use the connection to spy on us or to feed us misinformation. That means it may be enough if you're able to confuse him and to notice if the visions you see are fabricated."

"I don't know if this new one was a fabrication," he asked. "Do you think it was?"

"Impossible to say. We don't know what exactly Voldemort has in mind about the Department. While I can't imagine any good reasons why he would want you to know about him being interested in the Department, it doesn't mean there can't be many possible reasons."

Whenever Umbridge was not intruding my Potions classes, I tried to gather valuable information by using Legilimency on my Slytherin students. Many of them returned home for the Easter holiday and overheard their parents and older siblings talking for the first time since the mass breakout from Azkaban. I wanted to know which families were sympathetic to Voldemort and which ones feared him. Unlike all other Heads of House, I was eagerly looking forward to the careers advice meetings with the fifth-year students; my career advice to everyone was to become my minion, but obviously phrased in a more appealing way.

Draco, Theo, Crabbe and Goyle obviously did not go home for Easter, because I had ordered their parents to tell them to stay at Hogwarts. In addition to them, also Sara was a child of a Death Eater, but I had not taken her as hostage. I did not know Robert Jugson senior very well; most importantly, I did not know if he was the sort of person who would give in to blackmailing.

The Jugsons had to be handled differently. One day in April I visited the Three Broomsticks with Sara for a secret meeting. Ethan Jugson was sitting there with a mild disguising charm on, and he smiled when seeing us enter. I did not know whether he was one of those who were under the impression that there was some kind of a romance between me and his sister, but if he was, it could only be for my benefit.

"Ethan, long time no see," I said.

"Hello, Tom – hello, dear sister," he said. "I'm amazed that you decided to become a teacher, Tom."

"It won't be my life's career," I assured him. "What's appealing in this job is that Hogwarts is the centre of many things. Dumbledore as the Headmaster, the Ministry intervening, children of wizards from every political party…"

"I should've known you'd be able to turn even a teaching position into something like that," Ethan chuckled. "You've clearly been inspired by what Mr Slughorn did when he was the Potions master. You're gathering intelligence for war, aren't you?"

"It's my nature, I can't help it."

"That's quite clever, with the war looming over all of us." He took Sara's hand and squeezed it gently. "You must be interested about what our family thinks about these things. I don't blame you, Tom, but Sara's side is chosen, and I am on my sister's side. But our father is a Death Eater, and I am considered an obvious recruit despite never having expressed any interest towards it."

"What about Robert junior?"

Ethan sighed. "You know, he was a fan of the Dark Lord as a little child. Becoming a Death Eater was what he always wanted. He was thrilled when the Dark Lord returned, eagerly took the Dark Mark at the first opportunity – and after that, life has offered him only disappointments. Even our father is not being hold in high regard because he claimed to have been under the Imperius in 1981, but how about a newly branded Death Eater? Robert has been tasked with recruiting criminals, drunks and delinquents from Knockturn Alley!"

I could barely stop myself from laughing and spitting a mouthful of blackcurrant juice on the table.

"What a task for the heir of an aristocratic family!"

"Robert never bothered to get a job because he's the oldest of us," Sara said. "He might accept a seat in the Wizengamot, but otherwise he just wants to influence important people through our family connections."

"I bet he regrets not going to work at the Ministry," Ethan said. "At least then he'd be tasked with keeping an eye on people."

"I'm quite sure the Dark Lord loathes an attitude like Robert's," I said.

"As am I," Ethan said. "As you pointed out in the Debate Society two years ago, no one has ever accomplished great things through conventional politics. To be honest, I'm pleased that Robert is learning a lesson as a low-ranking recruiter. As the second son it's always been my destiny to find my own path through personal attributes, and now I can consider myself superior to Robert for the first time."

"Well, what kind of opportunities do you hope the war will be offering you?"

"We pure-bloods always prosper, regardless of what party is in power. The Dark Lord's disappearance affected our family's influence very little. We don't need to embrace any revolutionary methods, and that's why I don't even know what advantages I should be striving for."

"We've got much more to lose than to win," Sara said.

"I remember, Tom, that you suspected it was the Dark Lord's plan from the beginning to destroy the status quo," Ethan said. "And also that the Dark Lord possibly was the same person as the Headmaster of Hogwarts. The risks concern me. I'd prefer it if the war never started again."

"But if it is inevitable, would you support the side that has the best odds at ending the war as quickly as possible?"

"Yes, I guess… What do you have in mind?"

"I'd like you to give a hint to your brother," I said and smiled slyly. "Marcus Flint, Lucian Bole and Peregrine Derrick have been in contact with many of the Slytherins who have graduated within the last five years or so. If Robert enlists their help, he might have much more success in his task of recruiting people… but I can't guarantee that all recruits will remain loyal to the Dark Lord's cause."

Ethan smiled knowingly. He certainly had strong suspicions about what had happened in November of 1993 when 'the brutes' of the Slytherin Quidditch team had suddenly stopped undermining my authority.

"I will let him know," he said, "except… not that last part."

Dumbledore sat in the Headmaster's office, looking at the chess board. Long enough time had passed since Snape's disappearance to draw the conclusion that Lord Voldemort had found out the truth about the double agent. Reluctantly Dumbledore removed one of the white knights from the board and looked at the foreboding black pieces. There would be no warning before they would move again.

The black king stood alone in a corner.

Posted on the 17th of June, 2021.