9-More Changes

Dumbledore didn't call Harry the next day, and the next week also passed without summons. Harry suspected that the shock of having his Legilimency exposed and then the recoil were too much for the old man, who was probably unsure about the way to handle this new situation. Combined with his loss of control of the wards that caused him to lose Snape, that was probably as much as Dumbledore could take. Another confrontation with Harry no longer seemed such a good idea.

It took a few days of "unexpected absence" before Snape was officially released from his job and another Potions professor brought in, along with another for DADA. Dumbledore didn't give any official explanations for the changes.

\/\/\/

The two children didn't spend time following up their letters to the editors about Lockhart. They didn't really expect it to make front-page titles. Indeed it didn't, for a while. It all changed during March, when The Prophet published a double-fold on Lockhart and his books. When put under scrutiny, not only his adventure books proved to be phoney, but also his household charms books and his other spellbooks. The worst, not surprisingly, was his adventure books. They were proven to be pure fiction, and not very good at that either. The reporters searched for the origin of the stories and were able to find the real heroes from whom Lockhart had stolen the tales before he oblivated them. The public felt betrayed by the smiling author and demanded the publishers to refund their money. The publishers, in their turn, charged the author – Lockhart – for their unexpected expenses.

His other books, although closer to the truth, were also found to be full of errors, misspellings and bad explanations. All readers were warned to cross-check every spell in these books before trying to use it. At least the potion recipes were right, evidently copied verbatim from some older books.

Hermione, who was getting the paper each day, was proud to show Harry the results of their letter to the editor. They had no doubt that Lockhart would not be considered an acceptable candidate for teaching.

The Quibbler article appeared a few days later. It hadn't done such extensive research and its article was much shorter, but it mainly presented Lockhart as a fraud who had nothing to offer besides his shining smile. Harry felt like it put the last nails in Lockhart's proverbial coffin.

"Why don't we try to replace Binns too?" Harry asked Hermione innocently.

She frowned. "How can you do it? I mean, you could probably do everything you want if you let your position as heir become public, but you don't want that, I know. Just asking the headmaster to replace Binns may not work too well. I don't think you're currently on his 'favourites' list."

Harry chuckled at that. "Probably not. Still, I can control the wards to some extent. I may ask them to repel Binns." He then gave it a bit of thought. "Keeping the pretence, I may tell Dumbledore that I had another dream about the wards expelling Binns and suggest he urges the ghost to leave honourably instead of just being ejected from the castle."

Hermione looked surprised. "You know, that may actually work! Why don't you add a beautiful young woman as the replacement teacher in your dream?" Her mischief was evident.

Harry waved his hand dismissively. "Nah, that would only make it a typical teenage boy dream with beautiful young ladies, usually only scantily clad. I'd better stick to the original version."

The next morning, Harry ran up the stairs several times before making his way to Dumbledore's office, trying to look breathless, as if he was startled by the dream. "I had another dream about the wards," he blurted as soon as he was let in.

"Indeed? Care to tell me about it?" Dumbledore sounded a bit sarcastic, as if not quite believing Harry was only dreaming about the wards, but still quite curious.

"Yes! It felt like Hogwarts was letting me know that it would no longer allow a ghost to teach. I think it was referring to Professor Binns." He took a few deep breathes to calm his body. "I think it's going to expel him. Maybe we should give him a chance to resign and pass on in a more dignified way? He may not be my favourite teacher, but he shouldn't be just kicked out, I think."

Dumbledore looked at the child, not daring to use Legilimency, remembering his previous attempt just too well. "I'm glad you came to me with this, my boy. I shall inform Professor Binns as soon as I can. I agree that he deserves a dignified retirement after all these years. It may take some time to find a replacement teacher, though."

Harry refrained from laughing all the way down from the office, but once on the main floor, with Hermione holding his hand, it burst out. Luckily, it looked to others like Hermione had just told him a very funny joke.

\/\/\/

That weekend, when Sirius arrived for a visit, Dumbledore intercepted him. Half an hour later, when he joined his godson, he told Harry, "Dumbledore has a problem finding yet another teacher in the middle of the school term. He asked me to take over History of Magic for the remainder of the year. I told him I need to think of it and check the curriculum and the books before I can give him an answer. What do you say?"

Harry smiled happily. "I'm sure you'll do much better than Binns. You can't do much worse, you know."

"That's not showing a lot of confidence," Sirius retorted, not really hurt.

"Are you sure you're well enough to stay at school?" Hermione asked him. "A teacher, especially in a boarding school, needs to burden a lot of responsibility. Are you ready for that?"

Sirius gave it some real consideration before answering. "As you know, I've not been a very responsible teen, not even when I became an adult. And yet, I've taken upon myself to become an Auror and I was one of the best. As for my health, I'm fully recuperated both physically and mentally, although the mind healers will never consider me fully normal. How can a Marauder be considered normal? That would be humiliating!"

Hermione slapped his hand playfully. "Oh, you!" She then gasped. "I shouldn't behave this way with a teacher. I'm sorry, Professor Black."

Sirius had to stop laughing before answering. "I've not accepted the offer yet, so I'm not your professor. Besides, even if I accept the job, you two should always feel free when we're alone. In public, you'll have to address me properly, of course."

"So, are you going to take it?" Harry asked eagerly.

"Well, I liked History, despite Binns, and I used to read history books the way others read adventures. This doesn't mean I'm fit to teach, though. As I told the headmaster, I'll have to check the curriculum and a few books before I decide. I tend to accept the offer, if only so I can stay closer to you."

Both children suddenly hugged him. At that moment he knew he would accept, but he didn't need to tell them yet.

\/\/\/

Sirius took his sweet time to answer Dumbledore. While the latter thought that Sirius was busy checking school-related information, Sirius was putting the last touches on the transfer of guardianship. The Dursleys were more than willing to cooperate, if it meant they won't be seeing any of the "freaks" ever again. A small "gift" smoothed the way even further.

There was still one obstacle, though – namely – convincing the ruling judge that this was for the benefit of the child. For this, Harry had to be present. Not wanting to make Dumbledore aware of the events taking place, Sirius came with a different story. That Tuesday evening, he floo'ed Dumbledore urgently. "Some neighbours of the Dursleys started a rumour that they got rid of the boy, killing him and burying the corpse. The police are now involved. I was just visiting there to see where Harry has spent his life since that Halloween, when the police came with a warrant to search the house. They need to be at court tomorrow morning. They may face some very unpleasant time, maybe even spending it in prison, if they can't show Harry. I offered to bring Harry to court tomorrow, to prove he's alive and well."

Dumbledore was glad to help. "Of course, Sirius. Will you come here or should I let Harry use the floo?"

Sirius shook his head. "Harry has never used it before, as far as I know, so I'd rather come and fetch him. I'll bring him back before dinner, I suppose."

"Of course, Sirius. Just make sure it all goes well."

Dumbledore then sent a house-elf to inform Harry of the plans for the next day.

Harry was already waiting in the headmaster's office when Sirius floo'ed in. After a few pleasantries, Sirius took Harry back to London. Harry only had a glimpse at the London Black house before they moved out and took a taxi to the court.

It didn't take too long there. The judge had already had his impression of the Dursleys, based on how easily they gave up their guardianship. Harry's clothing only added to it. He then asked Harry if he wanted his guardianship to pass to Mr. Black.

"Sure! Sirius is my godfather and he swore to care for me, unlike my aunt and uncle, who only took me in when forced, since Sirius had some personal problems that prevented him from taking my guardianship at that time. Now, those problems were resolved and he's already shown that he cares for me. I also like his company. He's really a nice person to be with. My friend Hermione also likes him, and she doesn't like people easily."

That seemed to set the tone. Harry had to answer a few more questions, making it more evident that anybody could be a more suitable guardian than the Dursleys. It still took close to two hours until the final decision was given and all the papers were signed.

"Do you have anything in that house that you need to take?" Sirius asked him.

Harry shrugged. "I left there nothing I care for. I have everything in my trunk."

It was a very formal parting with no warmth displayed by any of the Dursleys or by Harry.

Sirius then decided to take the rest of the day for some shopping. "I think you should discard all your old clothes. I'll buy you a whole new wardrobe, one fit for your size and your position."

"My position?" Harry wondered.

"Sure! You're the heir of the Potter line. Your family has been quite wealthy, on par with Black and Malfoy, or maybe even richer. I've never heard how much each family was worth. Still, the Potter family used to be very influential for many generations." Sirius sighed when he noticed the blank look in Harry's eyes. "Well, I think we'll have to go over this during the summer vacation. It's more than we can do in one afternoon."

Indeed, after an early lunch at some diners they found, Sirius took Harry first to an optician, where he was fitted with new prescription eyeglasses. Harry was surprised when he noticed how much he'd been missing when looking through his old ones.

They followed that by buying socks, shoes, underwear, trousers, shirts, coats and nightwear. Sirius made sure to buy enough clothing to last Harry for the rest of the school year, but not too much. "You're still growing, and if you get a growth spurt, even these can become too small before the summer vacation," Sirius explained.

"I'm not sure I even need all this," Harry said thankfully. "I've never had so many clothes."

Sirius shrank everything as soon as they left each shop. By late afternoon, they collected Harry's new glasses. Sirius bought Harry two pairs, so that he could have a spare in case one pair was lost or damaged. He also had each use a different frame, to help identify them as well as give variety.

Just before floo'ing back to Hogwarts, Sirius told Harry, "I'm going to the Ministry tomorrow, and I hope to be able to get your magical guardianship too. Since I've already got your Muggle guardianship and I'm magical, it shouldn't turn to be too difficult."

Harry smiled and hugged him. That was the position they arrived in back to school.