Chapter four

It was two weeks after Harry sent the dementors after Dumbledore that Mad-eye called an order meeting, but he also wanted Harry at the meeting. Many of the adults thought he was too young until Mad-eye explained that Harry was the reason this meeting was being called. Molly Weasley still tried to stop Harry attending until Sirius reminded her that he was Harry's legal guardian and he wanted Harry involved. She went to argue but luckily Arthur was able to get his wife to calm down and remind her that she had no say in Harry's life. She was not his guardian or a relative.

'Now we're all here and not yelling, we have news,' Mad-eye said, 'Amelia got word that all the death eaters that got out of going to Azkaban that their wards had fallen. She sent every auror to check out the homes. Every person with a dark mark was kissed and this time it wasn't just two dementors. An unspeakable went with them and was able to determine that there were at least one hundred dementors.' Mad-eye waited until everyone stopped cheering, 'That's not the best news I bring.'

'I don't think it could get any better Mad-eye,' Sirius said, 'And you still haven't told us why this is about Harry.'

'I'm getting there Sirius,' mad-eye growled, 'Voldemort was also kissed. There is just a shell now. The unspeakable checked what was left of him and determined he is well and truly dead this time.'

'So the prophecy was bullshit?' Harry asked with a growl. He had to make it look like he was upset but also innocent.

'The unspeakable mentioned the prophecy about you and Voldemort. It seems that when you vanquished him the night your parent's were killed that the prophecy was fulfilled.'

'Damn, so all this time Harry could have been living with good people instead of those muggles?' Sirius put his arm around his godson.

'Yes, it seems Albus believed it was still active. But the unspeakables did say Albus hadn't been to the hall of prophecy since the prophecy was made. If he had he would have been able to find out that the prophecy was no longer active.'

'So, Harry really was the chosen one?' Arthur asked as he stared at the teenage boy who was friends with his son or had been friends with his son. Harry refuse to accept Ron's apology, so it's been rather tense at headquarters since they arrived.

'Chosen one?' Harry's brow furrowed.

'There was a rumour going around when you survived the killing curse that you were destined to defeat him, so some began to call you the chosen one. The name the-boy-who-lived ended up popular so no one ever used the chosen one again,' Mad-eye said.

'So basically this all comes down to the fact Voldemort is dead, the war that was about to start is over and everyone is safe. Does that about cover it Mad-eye?' Bill asked.

'Yep, Amelia was named minister. She's making sure everyone knew that Fudge and the Daily Prophet lied, that Voldemort did return. Everything will be printed so everyone will know the truth. Also, she brought in a new law. All ministry employees will be questioned using veritaserum, except the unspeakables who have given an oath. They did that after they found out that Rookwood was a death eater. The employees then have to swear a magical oath to serve all witches and wizards to the best of the ability and never serve the dark.'

'Damn, it really is over,' Harry said as he slumped against his godfather, 'It was only a few weeks ago Voldemort returned and killed Cedric,' Harry looked up at Mad-eye, 'Even though I hated the way the dementors made me feel, now I want to kiss them.'

'Innocent people were still kissed Harry,' Hestia said.

'I don't remember any innocent name mentioned and if you say Dumbledore then you're deluding yourself. He agreed with child abuse and allowed Snape to abuse students. To me he wasn't innocent. He might not have been dark but he wasn't light either.'

'What do you mean child abuse?' Molly asked.

'He knew how I was treated by the Dursley's. The beatings, being starved, working like a slave, made to sleep and locked into a cupboard. Yet he made sure I stayed there and had to return every year. It's why I don't care they had their souls taken, they deserve worse in my opinion.' Harry turned back to Mad-eye, 'Is that all that concerns me?'

'Yes, but you can stay if you want.'

Harry shook his head, 'No, I don't need to, Voldemort was the one I was linked to. Oh,' Harry brushed his hair back to show a now scar-free forehead, 'I noticed from the time graveyard that my scar was fading, now it's gone. It was linked to Voldemort.'

'So whatever he did that allowed him and you to survive that night was linked to the scar. If it's alright with you Potter, I'll mention it to the unspeakables.'

Harry shrugged, 'I don't mind, they might have answers. Anyway, I'll leave you lot to it,' Harry hugged his godfather then left the room. But many who were sitting there were not only shocked that Voldemort was dead, they were also shocked at what Harry said about Albus and the muggles. If what Harry said was true, then Albus was partially to blame for the way Harry was treated. They all looked up to Albus, now they were hearing he allowed Harry to be abused. They didn't know what to think.

It was an hour later that Sirius stepped into Harry's room to find his godson lying on the bed staring at the ceiling.

'What do you think will happen now?' Harry asked.

'In what way do you mean?'

Harry shrugged, swung his legs off the bed and sat up, 'Lots of things. Even though the new minister is releasing the truth which is needed, will the pure-bloods still try to make muggleborns second class citizens? There's just so much wrong with the magical world Sirius, which could have made it easy for old Voldy to take over. That is another reason why I don't want to return to Hogwarts. The old traditions just don't work. Look at the point system, it was corrupted by Snape and it was easy for him to do that. Even Dumbledore manipulated the points so Gryffindor could win. Hermione would win dozens of points and Ron would lose them in one go. I would also lose points, but most of the time it wasn't my fault or I was trying to help someone. Apart from Snape, Hermione gets punished for all the good work she did due to Ron being a prat or when Snape just wants to be a bastard. Then you have Filch who doesn't do much since he's a squib and the house elves do all the work. But he's cruel, that is not the type of person you should have around kids.

'Then you have the way some of the Slytherin's treated muggleborns and got away with it. None of the teachers punished those like Malfoy when he called Hermione a mudblood. The house system doesn't work either, it was making more death eaters out of the Slytherin's. But the thing with that is some of them might not have wanted anything to do with Voldemort, yet they were surrounded by the likes of Malfoy. They either threatened them or they were brainwashed. In muggle boarding schools they are housed by age or year. I made a couple of friends, I would have liked to get to know others from the other houses but we never go to really spend any time together, then their was always the rivalry. It worked against me as well. None of them got to know me, so they believed the rumours. I heard these boys basically manipulating Susan Bones and Hannah Abbott into believing I was the heir of Slytherin yet none of them knew me. I just think after this and how close it came to Voldemort taking over, that things need to change or it won't be long before another dark lord comes along and finds it easy to take over.'

'I get what you mean about the point system. The Marauders lost lots of points, yet we never thought of how it was punishing the students like your mother who won lots of points for Gryffindor. Maybe we'll sit down and talk about it over the next few days. We might be able to come up with a better way. The trouble is traditions, people don't like to just throw away a thousand years of traditions. They don't like to change. I get what you mean though pup. Voldemort almost won the first time, it was you and what happened that stopped the war before he actually won. With how corrupt most of the ministry workers are it was heading to a ministry run by the dark. With Amelia now minister she will clean up the ministry. Maybe it's time we sit down and discuss what works and what doesn't and come up with ideas that can help.'

'If things get discussed, then the ministry will need to listen to a variety of opinions, which include muggleborns or people that is connected to both worlds. We also have to make the muggleborns realise that the wizarding world is different to the muggle world. There are some that want to change things so we follow muggle rules and laws, which won't work as we're witches and wizards. But things need to change so it will suit everyone. I know for a fact that at least a dozen kids now at Hogwarts will be returning to the muggle world to live and work after they finish their owls. When I overheard these kids talking one thing a lot of them said was when they have kids they won't be sending them to Hogwarts, not with the way it's run now.

'People like Hermione, she can't see or speak to her parent's until Christmas time, then not until after the school year finishes. Muggles have been using phones for a long time, so they aren't used to not being able to speak with someone in the family, if they want to. They can't do that in the wizarding world. You can have a boarding school, but they should work on ways for Hermione or others like her to be able to go see their parent's on weekends or at least every second weekend, if they want to. Hermione is close to her parents, she misses them while stuck at Hogwarts. She can't get help from teachers when it's needed but she can't speak with her parent's to get advice. Sometimes using owls means you have to wait and she might need help straight away.

'I know Hermione likes to follow rules and believes we should all listen to authority figures like Dumbledore, but she's been slowly learning that not all people in authority know what their doing or they are right. It was Snape that made her see things were wrong. I might be angry with her for following the old man when he said not to write but she doesn't deserve to be treated as she was. But she also should be able to see her parent's more than she does now.'

'Lily almost left after the first year. We overheard her talking with one of her friends about how she missed hearing her parent's voices or seeing their faces. Writing a letter is okay but it's not the same as seeing someone face to face. Maybe they can work on a way for students to have one weekend a month where they can go home. Minerva likes traditions, so I doubt she will even consider changing how Hogwarts is run right now.'

'She also followed the old man so if she ends up headmistress then Hogwarts will never change. Either way I'm still staying away. I might not have to put up with Snape or people like Malfoy but I still don't want to be there where half the student population think I'm deranged or an attention seeking prat. Now you're free we can go out and have a life but you can also teach me what I need and what I've missed. We had one decent defence teacher in the four years I've been there, that was Remus. Crouch might have been okay but he used the unforgivables on us.'

'He did what?!' Sirius shouted.